► Honda launches new Insight
► This time it’s a crossover
► Based on Chinese Dongfeng model
Honda, in its home country of Japan, has announced an entirely new generation of Insight. This time, it’s been transformed from a sleek two-door coupe like the original into a lifted saloon/SUV crossover EV.
The new Insight is based on a Dongfeng Honda e:NS2, a model that’s on sale in China. But, for Honda’s home market, it has been renamed as the Insight. On the brand’s own website, it says that ‘Honda is opening up new horizons for EVs,’
Beneath the angular looks and Polestar 2-like body shape is a hybrid powertrain. The Chinese market version uses a 201bhp electric motor on the front wheels with a 68.8kWh battery pack, with a CLTC-procedure claimed range of 339 miles. Honda’s Japanese website only claims one performance metric for that version: a 229lb ft torque figure.
The interior largely follows design conventions to that of cars like the Civic and new Prelude, with a button-based drive selector and physical controls on the steering wheel. Honda says the new Insight can be had with a head-up display, a Bose stereo and quirkier details like an in-built scent cartridge system that allows you to choose which one you want active at any time.
The Insight has had a number of reinventions over its lifetime. After its period as a quirky eco-warrior, it has also been a Prius-rivalling hatchback and a slick hybrid saloon. It’s unlikely this new electric Insight crossover will make it beyond Japan, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Jake has been an automotive journalist since 2015, joining CAR as Staff Writer in 2017. With a decade of car news and reviews writing under his belt, he became CAR's Deputy News Editor in 2020 and then News Editor in 2025. Jake's day-to-day role includes co-ordinating CAR's news content across its print, digital and social media channels. When he's not out interviewing an executive, driving a new car for review or on a photoshoot for a CAR feature, he's usually found geeking out on the latest video game, buying yet another pair of wildly-coloured trainers or figuring out where he can put another car-shaped Lego set in his already-full house.
By Jake Groves
CAR's news editor; gamer, trainer freak and serial Lego-ist
