
PHOENIX — It comes as a surprise to most people that Toyota Prius wasn’t the first hybrid electric vehicle sold in the U.S. Rather, it was the Honda Insight, an odd looking three-door, two passenger hatchback that arrived in 1999 as a 2000 model, seven months earlier than the Prius. Fuel economy estimates under then-current EPA standards were 61 mpg city, 70 mpg highway, and 65 mpg combined.