Camaro Out Sells Insight Two to One

[Chris D.]

Interesting article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about muscle car's. In May the new Camaro outsold the Honda Insight by nearly two to one. Chevy is selling Camaros like hotcakes and they are planning to kill the "slow-selling" hybrid version of the Malibu. It is interesting to see how marketplace demand drives what sells at the end of the day. You have to wonder if this ratio will change as gas prices continue to head north.

[ivan1]

I wouldnt make too much of it....I am sure there were a ton of pre-orders for the much hyped new Camaro, and the Insight comes into a market with a well established leader in the Prius (note the Prius outsold the Camaro 2:1 in May)....check again in 3 months ...

I have no doubt there are fluctuations in buying preferences with the price of gas, but if I was a betting man I would rather be selling Hondas (or Toyotas)than Chevys

[bentheswift]

Honda is selling about half as many Insights as they had expected to... based on how well the prius has sold. Honda likely to miss U.S. sales targets for Insight?

There is already a waiting list for the new Prius. If I remember correctly, Prius sales increased EVERY year from 43,000 cars in 2003 to 281,000 cars in 2007.

I think it's more because the Insight is a half-ass hybrid and looks so blatantly like the 2nd gen Prius that people don't want it.

[chotto]

It's great to see good news from the home team.

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by bentheswift

Honda is selling about half as many Insights as they had expected to... based on how well the prius has sold. Honda likely to miss U.S. sales targets for Insight?

There is already a waiting list for the new Prius. If I remember correctly, Prius sales increased EVERY year from 43,000 cars in 2003 to 281,000 cars in 2007.

I think it's more because the Insight is a half-ass hybrid and looks so blatantly like the 2nd gen Prius that people don't want it.

they sold about 10k Prius in May, so I doubt that is an increase from 2007 numbers you quote (actually 42k for first 5 months of this year, versus 79k for same period last year, likely in part due to anticipation of the new model).

Honda Insight sales are predicted to fall short by about 1/3 (in part due to gas prices as already mentioned), so even if they were 1/3 higher for May they still would have been outsold by the Camaro.

More importantly what I realized working to work this morning passing one NYC traffic Prius after another and a car rental with two Camaros parked out front is a large number of those Camaro sales were probably to Hertz,Avis, etc, and a huge number of Prius sales are to fleets...it was the same thing with the Accord/Camry sales battles - Camry would often come out on top, but if you subtracted the fleet sales, Accord was way ahead....Fortunately Honda has stayed away from rental/fleet sales for the most part and hopefully will continue to do so....

Dont get me wrong - I like the styling of the Camaro, and would even consider the convertible if/when it arrives...I grew up driving GM cars as my father was a GM dealer for many years...I just think that these early sales numbers may not be indicative of a long term trend....

[...m...]

Originally Posted by bentheswift

I think it's more because the Insight is a half-ass hybrid and looks so blatantly like the 2nd gen Prius that people don't want it.

...it offers neither novelty, innovation, nor distinction - there's little about the new insight to attract noteworthy fandom...

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by chotto

It's great to see good news from the home team.

you are right on that one....the Camaro IS one of the cars they make in the US, not Mexico or Canada, right?
(edit sorry it IS made in Canada )

They should be congratulated on outselling their target competitor, the Insight

Now if they were aiming for something like the Mustang... but they wont talk about how the "refreshed" Mustang outsold the new Camaro by about 3,000 units in May

[...m...]

Originally Posted by chotto

It's great to see good news from the home team.

Originally Posted by ivan1

you are right on that one....the Camaro IS one of the cars they make in the US, not Mexico or Canada, right?

...well, designed in australia and built in canada, but they're both practically states, right?..

[Ian]

Originally Posted by ...m...

...it offers neither novelty, innovation, nor distinction - there's little about the new insight to attract noteworthy fandom...

That's disappointing to hear. I've been thinking about a hybrid for my 50 mile commute. The Insight seemed interesting; cheaper than a Prius, (arguably) slightly better looking than the Prius.

[ivan1]

sorry, but to get back to the premise of the article and original post (there are already other threads discussing the virtues/flaws of the insight), trying to make any inference about what this means as far as preference over fuel efficient cars is ludicrous.

To quote the article "These are cautionary signals for the Obama administration's efforts to shift GM's product mix toward smaller, more-efficient vehicles."


The Camaro also outsold the Suburban 2:1, so I guess we can conclude people dont want fuel efficient hybrids or large SUVs anymore???

[ItsThaMonsta]

I think the prius just shows exactly how much people dont think. Whats the reason for this car again? You wont make up the 10k+ price difference in gas over 15-17k car over the life of the prius. Its also extremely ugly, non exciting, and a bunch of other useless stuff. Id rather get a base lancer or something else for a lot less that still gets 30+ mpg. It must be that Toyota thing. Its not for me though.

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by ItsThaMonsta

I think the prius just shows exactly how much people dont think. Whats the reason for this car again? You wont make up the 10k+ price difference in gas over 15-17k car over the life of the prius. Its also extremely ugly, non exciting, and a bunch of other useless stuff. Id rather get a base lancer or something else for a lot less that still gets 30+ mpg. It must be that Toyota thing. Its not for me though.

I think there are other factors that go into peoples decisions, such as "making a statement", and wanting to cut fuel consumption for reasons other than saving $ (environmental causes, decrease dependence on mideast oil imports)...but I agree - attractive and fun they are not....

[fishtaco]

I just picked up an Insight for my 2400 miles per month driving. My girl is driving my previous DD a 2008 Mazdaspeed3. Here are my impressions of the Insight (I've not driven a Prius. I can't get over the center dash)

Averaging about 47 in my half city / half highway commute. Getting about 44 on the interstates at around 70 mph.

Pretty comfortable ride. Doesn't handle half bad for what it is.

Easy as hell to drive, except when you want to accelerate. Down right scary slow acceleration unless you bury the pedal.

Has a lot of little lights and displays to keep you in the green and off the gas.

Build quality is better than my Lotus, but not up to VW or even Accord standards.

Has F1 inspired KERS system

Got it at invoice

[ErictheBastard]

Originally Posted by ...m...

...it offers neither novelty, innovation, nor distinction - there's little about the new insight to attract noteworthy fandom...

Honda killed the Accord hybrid and original Insight due to lack of sales. Their focus group testing indicated (especially with the Accord) that people wanted a Hybrid for the poseur factor. Hence the restyle as a Prius knockoff.

Just don't tell the stupid pompous Prius owners (am I being redundant?) that a measurable amount of its efficiency comes from aerodynamics and extremely low rolling resistance.

South Park Episode Player - Smug Alert

[evomind]

Originally Posted by ItsThaMonsta

I think the prius just shows exactly how much people dont think. Whats the reason for this car again? You wont make up the 10k+ price difference in gas over 15-17k car over the life of the prius. Its also extremely ugly, non exciting, and a bunch of other useless stuff. Id rather get a base lancer or something else for a lot less that still gets 30+ mpg. It must be that Toyota thing. Its not for me though.

ive been saying this since it came out. (prius)

[evomind]

im glad to see the camaro and the mustang doing well.
they should be, theyre nice cars.

[...m...]

The All-New Chevy Camaro: as American as Vegemite and Maple Syrup.

Originally Posted by ErictheBastard

Just don't tell the stupid pompous Prius owners (am I being redundant?) that a measurable amount of its efficiency comes from aerodynamics and extremely low rolling resistance.

...the original insight was considerably slipperier and achieved significantly better real-world fuel economy than the prius, albeit at the expense of convenience and aesthetics, but there's no denying that it was a truly groundbreaking and revolutionary engineering exercise...

[xtn]

Heck a 1992 Civic VX whumped both of these modern hybrids on fuel mileage, and would get up and go pretty decently too (for an economy minded compact car). If I could find one that hadn't been butcherized by the engine swapping ricers I would be all over it.

xtn

[PhlypSide]

I love the new Camaro. It's the hottest of all the neo-retro domestics.

When will people stop screwing around with hybrids and just come out with actual alternative energy cars like the Tesla?

Sh*t someone should make an electric 7 clone or Atom....

[PhlypSide]

Originally Posted by xtn

...........If I could find one that hadn't been butcherized by the engine swapping ricers I would be all over it.

xtn

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^