ABSTRACT
Honda's environmental strategies extended into its factory design and alternative transportation initiatives. In 1997, the Honda Motor Company introduced a two-door gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle—the Insight—to Japan. Honda also worked with Bay Area Rapid Transit, CalTrans, University of California Davis and University of California Riverside to develop innovative car sharing programmes called CarLink and Intellishare. Critics were sceptical as to whether FreedomCAR would be any more successful than the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, and pointed out that both Toyota and Honda had developed profitable energy-efficient cars without such help. Honda also applied for certification and attained approval from the Internal Revenue Service in September 2002 to make the Insight and the hybrid version of its Civic model eligible for the same tax break. Honda had made a few minor cosmetic and functional developments to ensure a product ready for full production. Comparisons between the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius were inevitable.
