Honda's first hybrid-power car is a 2-seat hatchback coupe that leads all other cars in EPA fuel-economy ratings. It has aerodynamic styling, lightweight aluminum-intensive construction, and an electric motor to assist its 3-cyl gasoline engine. When coasting or decelerating, the motor becomes a generator for recharging its own battery pack, so no plug-in charging is required.

Manual transmission is standard and a continuously variable transmission (CVT) is optional. The CVT furnishes variable drive ratios instead of conventional gear changes but has steering-wheel "D" and "S" buttons to select normal and higher-performance ranges. Antilock brakes are standard, but air conditioning is optional. Honda limits U.S. sales to about 6500 a year. Introduced in mid-2002 was a Civic Hybrid sedan, a direct challenger to Toyota's 5-passenger Prius hybrid.

The gas-thrifty Insight got a sales boost in 2001 from the sharp spring and summer run-up in fuel prices, deliveries rising 24.8 percent from the previous year's tally. But the difference was fewer than 1000 units, and the first hybrid vehicle on American roads is still selling well below its original target of 5000 a year. And demand suddenly slacked off in early 2002, dropping 34.8 percent year-to-year for the first quarter.

Not that it matters much. Like Toyota and other manufacturers, Honda offers hybrid vehicles to cultivate a politically desirable "green" corporate image and, even more important, to earn credits that figure in its corporate average fuel economy total.