Fourth-Gen Honda Insight Reborn As All-Electric Crossover

Honda has unveiled an all-new generation of the Insight for the Japanese market. The latest Insight gets some glaring changes over its predecessor - the first that, unlike its hybrid forebearers, this one is all-electric and second, it's now a coupe-styled crossover and not a sedan.

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Starting with the design, if some find the design strangely familiar, it is! The Insight looks to be the Japanese-market iteration of the Honda e:NS2 sold in China by Dongfeng-Honda and the design has stayed virtually unchanged.

The fascia features a shark-nose-inspired design with an enclosed grille featuring an illuminated Honda logo with a lightbar neatly flowing into the LED DRL elements within the sleek headlamps. The headlamps also feature angular, vertical boomerang-shaped LED DRL elements extending into the bumper. The front bumper, meanwhile, features a large central air-dam element with a prominent splitter-like lip below.

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In profile, the new Insight features a crisp shoulderline running the length of the vehicle with the front door featuring flush-sitting pop-out door handles.

The roofline gently tapers towards the rear, where it flows into a heavily raked C-pillar before flowing down into a lip-like element just above the tail lamps. The rear lighting comprises of slim vertical design tail lamps with LED light guides paired with a full width lighbar that runs across the boot lid.

Inside, the Insight's minimalist cabin and walk-through design is again a straight lift from the e:NS2. Honda cabin follows a wrap-around theme with the metallic trim, leatherette upholstery trim and even the ambient lighting on the doors neatly integrating into the dashboard design. The dashboard follows a layered design theme with the 9.4-inch digital instrument cluster and air-con vents neatly integrated into a continuous horizontal strip just below the dash top. The lower section features a thick strip of leatherette upholstery underlined by ambient lighting and houses a large 12.8-inch touchscreen.

Physical buttons are minimal, with only the most important functions getting physical switches, such as the hazard lights - positioned below the touchscreen, and the gear selector buttons sitting on the floor console between the front seats. The steering-mounted switchgear too are physical buttons.

Moving to the rear, Honda says that the new Insight will offer enough space for people to sit cross-legged, with the seat back also featuring a recline function. Honda says that the front seats and rear seat base do have a heating function. Moving to the other features on offer, the Insight will get kit such as Honda Sensing ADAS tech, 12-speaker Bose sound system, ventilated front seats, multi-zone climate control, Hands Free parking, a powered tail gate and a sunroof - curiously, no panoramic sunroof is offered.

Full mechanical details are still awaited, though Honda claims a cruising range of over 500 km on the WLTC cycle and 310 Nm of peak torque - all figures similar to the e:NS2. The company has also announced that the new Insight will get frequency-responsive dampers, four drive modes - Sport, Normal, Econ & Snow and three regen modes accessible via steering-mounted paddles.

Expect more details to follow with Honda saying that the model will go on sale in Japan in the coming weeks.