The reason we chose a 5-door hatchback was that we wanted the car to be popular in Europe," says Yasunari Seki, Large Project Leader. "American Honda - the biggest market - asked us to build a car with a boot, but we decided on a 5-door design because to compete with other green cars and sell more in Europe, it had to be a 5-door hatchback. Of course, aerodynamically it is also a more favourable shape
The structure of the engine compartment and front section of the car is almost identical to Jazz, with some minor alterations to aid crash protection, but behind the front bulkhead the platform is unique to Honda Insight. The wheelbase is 2550mm (50mm longer than that of the Jazz). There are eight exterior paint colours : Spectrum White Silver Pearl, Cerulean Blue Metallic, Alabaster Silver Metallic, Polished Metal Metallic, Neutron Blue Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Urban Titanium Metallic and Milano Red.
The voice activated satellite navigation system is a touch-screen unit utilising a fully updateable DVD for all data. The Honda navigation features 11 text languages including: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Suomi. Five of these, English, German, Italian, French and Spanish can be used for voice activation and spoken guidance instructions. The Honda Insight's system allows the user to find a wide range of places of interest, including restaurants, petrol stations, airports and Honda service centres. The majority of points of interest include phone numbers where appropriate for added convenience. Where it is available, the Honda navigation system works with traffic information to alert customers to potential delays and navigate a route round them
