Honda is bringing back the Insight name for its next-generation midsize hybrid sedan, showing the 2019 model ‘premium compact’ at the 2018 Detroit auto show in Michigan. The Insight will be EPA-rated at 50 mpg (combined highway/city numbers), the automaker said, noting it will be the company’s first dedicated-hybrid platform to be assembled in the United States. The Insight will operate mostly on electric drive; the drive motor will be powered either entirely by the battery pack “or while the engine is serving as a generator to recharge the battery to provide power,” said consumer automotive website The Car Connection. Only in maximum acceleration or while driving at highway speeds will the gasoline engine directly power the wheels.
This time around, the Honda Insight hybrid looks just like a Honda.
(PHOTO: HONDA)