A Very Brief History of Green Hondas

Honda’s new Insight hybrid went on sale in Japan earlier today, accompanied by a minisite covering the history of their ecologically-minded vehicles. Starting with the Super Cub motorcycle’s OHC four-stroke motor in 1958. The first car is the kei-class N360 of 1967, followed by the 1972 Honda Civic CVCC, which stands for Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion and made the Civic the first car to meet US 70s emission standards without a catalytic converter. Interestingly, there’s then a 27-year gap between that and the 1999 Insight. Surely they could have inserted a CR-X HF or something in between, right? The Insight goes on sale in the US on Earth Day, April 22.