Mugen Honda Insight - Hybrid with an Attitude

One month has passed since the 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid was launched at the Detroit Auto Show, and the crew at Mugen have already attempted to better the series model. The tuned model is more aggressive looking than the somewhat plain series sedan. Like all Mugen cars, the most significant tuning of the car is the body kit.

Mugen added a front under spoiler, a front sports grille, side spoilers, a rear wing, a rear under spoiler and sports silencers. Mugen is also offering two sets of aluminum wheels ranging from 15 to 16 inches. As for the engine, Mugen hasn't done much. Besides an oil filter and lubricants, nothing else was added or removed from the car. There is improvement regarding the suspensions, as the car received a new set of springs and dampers that reduce its overall height by 20 mm.

Mugen has a long history of modifying and creating body kits for Honda. At the end of 2008, they presented a body kit for the new Accord and Civic. Mugen Motorsports is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda. The company is an engine tuner and parts manufacturer closely associated with the Honda Motor Company. Despite the family connections, however, Mugen is not, and has never been, owned by Honda.

Mugen tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship, and, additionally, sells aftermarket parts to amateur enthusiasts. It was part of partnerships that won the Formula 3000 championship in 1990 and 1991, and that eventually led to Mugen's involvement in Formula 1, from 1992 to 2000, and up to 2005 was the exclusive supplier of Formula Nippon engines.