The reason why the Insight has failed worldwide is that it is a bad car. European models were facelifted after one year to address concerns about interior quality and the ride/handling (sound similar to another Honda?!) - but they left the North American version alone. It's noisy, uncomfortable, jerky, it feels cheap and it's woefully underpowered compared to the Prius with the 1.8.
Honda has lost its way - the only car in the range I'd buy without hesitation is the Fit, the refreshed Odessey doesn't seem too bad. The new civic, cr-v, current accord, cross-tour etc are very disappointing to me given how Honda used to achieve as a company.