The five-passenger 2010 Honda Insight has a tough set of goals to meet as it meets its Toyota Prius competition. Aside from the surging Japanese Yen which will stretch the vehicle’s price, the falling prices of gasoline will also have an impact on the response of the market towards hybrid vehicles.

There was a 9.9% drop in sales for 2008 in the hybrid segment of the automotive sector. The US car manufacturers were only able to sell around 315761 units or just around 2.4% of the total market.

Executives from Honda disclose that the company is still reviewing its plans for the Insight and they will adjust accordingly to the response of the US market.

The main component of the hybrid from Honda is its lower pricing compared to the Prius of Toyota. In Japan, the Insight will be priced between $20052 and $23000.

The car manufacturer assembles the hybrid vehicles in their Japan plants and foresees a difficult future of assembling the car offshore since they are using special battery components which are supplied by local Japanese companies.

Honda is expecting the Honda Civic Hybrid to lead their production offshore since the base model for the release is already being assembled overseas.

All three models of the Insight will use a 1.3L i-VTEC engine. More things Honda can be found at Honda Talk!

With all the consumer hype on the rising costs of gasoline, Toyota offered an alternative through its Camry hybrid concept. The automobile company’s brainchild fell into the second category at the said auto show last Wednesday.

The hybrid edition of Toyota Camry runs on a 2.4 liter Toyota Hybrid Synergy four-cylinder engine. Instead of using the traditional system for gasoline engines, Toyota replaced the engine’s compression system with the one that uses Compressed Natural Gas or CNG. Despite the change, the unit still boasts off a 170 horsepower rate.

The concept amazed participants when they learned that the unit does not even use a drop of gasoline to work. The hybrid Toyota Camry recorded a 33 mpg fuel economy rating.

Wondering where in the unit does one put the reserve CNG? Two tanks of the said alternative gas are installed on the storage space located near the area for spare tires. The tanks carry an approximately 8-gallons worth of regular gasoline.

Hybrids and fuel economy are not entirely new ideas for Toyota. As a matter of fact, the company has had a program on natural gas in California since 1999. Toyota, however, stashed the program due to the lack of refueling structures. The company opted to revive the said program after learning that almost half of the 1,000 natural gasoline stations in the country are serving the public.

Car enthusiasts present in the event also remarked that they first saw the hybrid Toyota Camry at the Sustainable Mobility Seminar of the automobile company last fall.