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Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

> It becomes even more impressive when you realize that before the Prius, there was no market for green cars, hybrid, electric, or otherwise.

The first incarnation of the Honda Insight was before the Prius, and somewhat successful before the Prius came on the scene and took over.

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Honda Insight - 1999 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight Toyota Prius - 1997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius

From wikipedia: >Total global cumulative sales for the first generation Insight were 17,020 units

Thats for '00-'06 sales. idk what the first year sales were but the Pirus was on the scene very soon after the Insight.

The other obvious thing, the Insight looked like a car for weirdos. Something that tesla and later model prius / leaf's have tried to avoid.

I think we may be misremembering this. The Prius dates back to 1996, when it was based on the Echo. The Insight was '99.

Edit: Okay, maybe 1996 in Japan? According to this Wikipedia link, the Insight DOES predate the Prius but only in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehicles_in_th...

Good link, to answer my own question, the first year insight sales were (drum roll): 17.

Honda Insight was never offered for sale, lease only. I'm not including leases because Tesla does not lease their cars and lease stats are more than a simple Google search away. But if we were to include leases, Prius' stats would look even better.

> Honda Insight was never offered for sale, lease only.

No, 17,000 or so were sold, and it was the first mass produced hybrid sold in the US.

Your arguments continue to devolve into uninformed or utter bad faith.

The insight WAS offered for sale, and Tesla DOES lease their cars[1]

[1]https://www.tesla.com/support/tesla-leasing

I literally lease my Tesla

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