Honda Says Insight Hybrid Failed Because It Wasn't An Advertising Priority

The failure of the Honda Insight hybrid-electric vehicle to sell in higher volumes came down to a lack of promotion.

“We never put a lot of marketing muscle behind (the) Insight,” Jeff Conrad, Honda Div. senior vice president and general manager, tells WardsAuto in an interview here during a ’15 Fit media preview. “We had an initial launch, we spent a few dollars, but then we wanted to grow volume in other places, and that’s where the marketing dollars went.”

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HughJass - 4/7/2014 10:51:20 AM

+2 Boost

My friend told me his wife was looking at an Insight and the Honda sales guy was more interested in selling her a Civic, even using the "that's a lot of miles to make up $3000".

Not sure if it was because they make better commmission on a Civic, they had to order the Insight since they aren't in stock (apparently Honda didn't want to manufacture them anyways) or the guy just wanted the sale today no matter what even if it meant bad mouthing their own product.

Instead of bad mouthing the Insight, maybe the guy would have done better if he said the Prius wasn't worth the price hike vs the Insight. She ended up buying a Prius instead.

t_bone - 4/7/2014 6:56:29 PM

+1 Boost

The 13hp electric motor didn't help. Prius has 67hp. This was very apparent to me when I did back-to-back test drives about 5 years ago.

MattDarringer - 4/7/2014 7:27:23 PM

-1 Boost

It failed because it was ugly, poorly built, unrefined, and did not deliver amazing MPG.

TheSteve - 4/7/2014 7:31:40 PM

+1 Boost

So Honda believes that all it takes to sell a product in significant numbers is advertising? What if it's a product that few people want? Ummm... I think I may have just stumbled onto something.

MattDarringer - 4/8/2014 8:55:55 AM

-1 Boost

Honda currently makes their sales goals with massive cash to the dealer to offer stiff discounts. I'm glad not to be a part of a Honda dealer.

CarCrazedinCali - 4/8/2014 7:59:18 PM

+1 Boost

Yea, that's it Honda...