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Honda’s global hybrid sales hit the 300,000 mark earlier this month, a figure the company hopes will be bolstered by the April launch of its new Insight.
Having unveiled the Insight at the Detroit Motor Show, Honda has labelled the new model “the most affordable hybrid car on the market”.
The carmaker has claimed over 10,000 Insight orders have been placed in Japan already, eleven days before going on sale there.
Honda hopes to sell 200,000 Insights per year.
As of September, Honda’s hybrid sales accounted for less than three per cent of its annual sales – a figure the brand hopes to raise to 10 per cent by 2010.
The Insight is a five-door hatch that sits on an all-new platform, unlike previous four-door hybrids based on existing models.
Honda UK’s environmental manager John Kingston told Motor Trader: “It will change customer perception of hybrids. Hybrids have to be made more affordable – the key barrier to sales is price and we want to break that barrier.”