CAPABLE of 83mpg on the combined cycle and with carbon dioxide emissions of just 80g/km, the Honda Insight is probably the least likely candidate for the ‘Max Power’ treatment.

But Fleet News’ sister publication Max Power contacted Honda following the company’s search for a 100,000-mile Insight – the first car to be sold in the UK with Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist petrol-electric hybrid system – with a proposal.

Max Power writer Jon Smith said: ‘Nobody has ever done a hot hatch IMA. The Insight is the original petrol electric car and I wanted to see how it would look if we modified one. I was aware that Honda had recently acquired a well-used example and thought this would be a perfect model.’

Smith also sent Honda a photo of how a modified Insight might look.

Simon Thompson, head of marketing at Honda, said: ‘As soon as we saw it, we knew it had a ‘wow’ factor. Max Power readers tend to be younger and we need to raise their awareness of the model’s potential as they will be the generation that will embrace this technology.’

Max Power will have to wait until next year to take delivery of the car, as it is currently being loaned to the media to evaluate the durability of hybrid vehicles and the un-Max’d version has been at Fleet News this week.