This is a wierd looking car. From the front, it has a family resemblance to other Hondas. From the rear, it looks like nothing else on the road.The Honda Insight is small, almost 20 inches shorter than a Honda CivicCoupe.
This car is a technological tour de force in many ways. Its body structure is made out of aluminum, instead of steel, with some plastic body panels.
A small, 1-liter, three-cylinder gasoline engine provides primary power; an ultra-thin electric motor integrated into the transmission housing boosts performance when needed. Honda calls this system an Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) and it is the heart of the car. The electricity for the electric motor comes from a relatively small battery pack, which is kept continuously charged by the gasoline engine. The system is totally self-contained, so there is no need to charge the battery with an external cable. The driving range of more than 600 miles is defined only by the 10.6-gallon fuel tank, which does not need filling up very often.