Honda Insight: First Hybrid Ever To Top The List Of Best-Selling Cars In Japan

12 years ago, Toyota introduced a revolutionary car, the Prius, on the market. It was a "hybrid" meaning its engine could switch between gas and electric drive modes. Now, the new Honda Insight is the best-selling car in Japan for the month of April. It is the first time ever that a hybrid car tops the list here in Japan (or anywhere in the world).

Other car makers have been much slower to introduce hybrid cars, and even Ford had to licence Toyota's technology in order to get its first hybrids on the road.

I don't own a car, and I don't plan to buy one (I love trains) but I do think we are witnessing a paradigm shift away from gas-guzzling automobiles, to an era where mobility means we only use energy resources as efficiently as possible.

I'm sorry to say that U.S. -owned car makers Volvo and SAAB are so far from this race that they frankly deserve to go under, unless they can start to make cars with fuel efficiency that match the hybrids - and why not? In Sweden, private purchasers of the Prius (or any other vehicle in the environmentally less destructive class) are awarded SEK 10,000 (roughly USD 1700, €1100) in order to stimulate sales and use of such vehicles. The subsidy program has been very successful.

And, perhaps this will be Honda's first European Car of the Year? Toyota Prius got the honours in 2005.

More about the Honda Insight over at Treehugger. Do comment and let people know what you think about this remarkable development. Things are indeed changing. Fast.

Reuters: Honda Insight first hybrid to rank top in Japan

More hybrid cars on Kurashi

Update: NHK World notes: Overall domestic sales of new Japanese vehicles fell 28 percent in April from a year earlier to an all-time low for the month. That is a huge drop.