Honda has introduced its newest hybrid car, the Insight to the Irish market. The car uses a combination of a 1.3 litre petrol engine with the support of an electric motor system to improve fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions. The Insight is a five-door hatchback car that's aimed at the mid-range family car market.

Honda Ireland believes that it will compete with the likes of the lower CO2 diesel powered cars in terms of price and running costs. Honda uses what they call an Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system to provide electric energy assistance to the Insight's 1.3-litre petrol engine. The aerodynamic body design ensures that car is very fuel efficient and achieves a combined fuel economy figure of 4.4 litres/100km (64mpg).

The Insight has a CO2 rating of just 101g/km, which puts it into Band A for road tax purposes with a low €104 annual road tax rate. This is a slightly higher CO2 rating than the competitor Toyota Prius, which has the same road tax rate and is more expensive.

The Insight uses an Eco Assist system to help drivers to become more efficient. The system uses a colour-coded backlight in the main speedo dial to tell the driver if they are driving efficiently or not.

As a hybrid, the Insight is eligible for the lower rate of VRT and this has brought the entry price of the Insight to just €22,378 before delivery charges. Honda Ireland expects 150 Insight models during 2010 and their target is that 80 per cent of those sales will be new non-hybrid drivers, according to Frank Kennedy, sales and marketing director at the company.

Honda Ireland expects that hybrid sales will account for about 16 per cent of all new sales for the brand in 2010 rising to 25 per cent by 2012. This compares with less than six per cent in 2009.

The new car is seen as smaller than the current Honda Civic Hybrid and it comes with a lower price. Honda will have a new sports car with the hybrid drive in June called the CR-2 followed by a hybrid drive version of the Jazz later in the year.

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