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The Honda Insight is a two-seater hybrid automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Honda. The Insight was the first mass-produced hybrid automobile sold in the United States, introduced in 1999. At its height, it achieved nearly 70 miles per gallon . According to the EPA, the 5-speed manual transmission variant of the Insight was the most fuel-efficient mass-produced automobile sold in the United States.1 The Insight also features low emissions: the California Air Resources Board gave the 5-speed model a ULEV rating, and the CVT model earned a SULEV rating. Upon its introduction to the United States in December 1999 , the Honda Insight was the first mass-produced hybrid automobile sold in the country. The first generation of the Toyota Prius, however, had gone on sale in Japan in 1997. Hybrid technology, which combined two different power sources -- in the Insight's case, a regular internal combustion engine and an electric motor powered by Nickel-Metal Hydride cells -- was unproven on the American market, and at the time of release was not considered viable. Previous efforts to make environmentally-friendly cars had focused on electric cars. The primary argument against hybrids was that the cost and weight of having two different motors would make the vehicles impractical. The Insight, however, was introduced at a price of just under US 20,000. Other hybrids soon followed, with the Toyota Prius arriving in June of 2000. Honda rolled out a hybrid version of the Honda Civic in 2002, followed by Toyota's relaunch of the Prius in 2003. In the fall of 2004 Ford became the first American automotive manufacturer to bring a hybrid to market with the Ford Escape hybrid. The car remained the highest mileage machine while it was produced and is still the leader of any current car. The Insight earned an EPA mileage estimate of 70 miles per gallon in highway driving, 61 mpg city. With air conditioning it was 66/60. With a CVT it was 57/56. Some driver