Electricnick, The EV Revolution

It’s official, Honda has put the heat on Toyota’s Prius by selling its Insight cheaper.  The ball is in Toyota’s court and their reaction should please any hybrid enthusiast.The gist is that the answer was simple, hybridize the Yaris which will be specifically developed to be low-priced and accessible, the result being that it will undercut the Honda Insight.  Who says competition is bad, in this case?

Technically Speaking.  It will be an in-house design job and probably won’t use the Yaris name.  The hybrid, HEV is due for launch around 2011 and won’t use Toyota’s Prius nickel-hydride batteries supplied by Panasonic but its own lithium-ion battery pack.  The choice of using the Yaris as an Insight contender is interesting.  It would seem Toyota didn’t want to touch its well established poster child, i.e. the Prius and instead introduce another line via the Yaris platform.  It’s a smart idea and we can only imagine Toyota will push the Prius into a more refined segment of the market.

Honda and Toyota have introduced mass manufactured hybrids in the late ’90s and are competing again today.  If Honda was first on the scene with their original Insight, Toyota came back with their Prius and surpassed Honda.  Honda has staged a great come back with their new Insight priced below the Prius.  It will be interesting to see how both react to each other, already knowing that Toyota is rethinking its pricing strategy and adapting an existing car to meet the demand.  Consumers can only win.