Honda has announced the end of its hybrid Insight, which has long struggled with lagging sales.
Demand for the Insight, which was the first hybrid to be introduced in the United States, has never kept pace with its rival, the Toyota Prius. The best-selling hybrid worldwide, the Toyota Prius sold 3.19 million vehicles as of January, outselling the Prius by at least 10 times, Bloomberg reported.
The current generation of the Insight will be discontinued this month, and dealers have been asked to stop taking orders, Honda spokeswoman Yuka Abe told Bloomberg.
The carmaker reportedly still has a 237-day supply of the make, a number that is almost four times the ideal 60-day inventory automakers aim for.
According to the report from Autoblog.com, Honda discontinued sales of the Insight in Europe last week along with the two-door CR-Z.
Because it uses similar technology and has even slower sales, Autoblog noted that discontinuing the Insight casts the CR-Z's future into uncertainty. Honda officials haven't been clear about what will happen next to the CR-Z.
"The fates of Insight and CR-Z are not necessarily intertwined as they are very different models with very different missions," Honda spokesman Sage Marie told Autoblog. "Moving forward, our hybrid vehicle strategy will focus on new hybrid models featuring expanded application of our innovative two-motor hybrid system with an eye toward significant volume growth."
The Honda Insight debuted as a two-seat, three-door hatchback in 1999, launching seven months before the Toyota Prius. The original model was discontinued in 2006 to be followed by a larger, five-door version in 2009, according to Autoblog.
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