Honda moves on Insight

HONDA Australia has effectively reduced the price of its groundbreaking Insight hybrid in the face of lower than expected sales – less than nine months after it was launched in Australia.

Although already more affordable than the rival Toyota Prius, by a considerable $5000, Honda has deemed it necessary to include the Insight in its latest round of retail initiatives aimed at boosting the company’s flagging sales.

Having already cut up to $2000 across the Jazz range, $3400 on the CR-V and $3570 on Odyssey from June 1 – not to mention limited reductions of up to $6259 on MY2010 Accord and $2150 on run-out Accord Euro models – Honda Australia is now offering free on-road costs on its three hatchback models.

That means an even bigger price advantage on the Insight at $29,990, which is now the car’s driveaway price throughout Australia.

At the same time, the Civic Si five-door hatch (only with manual transmission, cloth trim and non-metallic paint) and the sporty Civic Type R are now listed with driveaway prices of $29,990 and $39,990 respectively, saving as much as $4000 depending on the state of Australia in which the consumer buys the car.

The price of the British-built Civic Si had already been slashed earlier this year as Honda dropped the price by $5300 on March 2 to its present $29,990 level (plus on-roads), so buyers are saving in the region of $9000 from six months ago.

“It’s a great time to visit your Honda dealer for a hatch to marry your tastes,” said Honda Australia sales and marketing manager Stephen Collins.

Honda’s sales slump has been well-recorded by GoAuto and, although the company’s retail initiatives recovered some lost ground last month (up 3.4 per cent), the brand remains 22.7 per cent down overall to the end of July compared with the same period last year.

Sales of the Insight have been well below the company’s forecast of 200 units a month, having averaged only 55 sales a month this year.

Nevertheless, last month the Insight inched ahead of its hybrid rival, reaching 386 sales for the year while the Toyota Prius has registered only 358 – a long way from the heady days of 2008 when it averaged almost 300 a month.