Calling all Aussies and Kiwis !!

[tripp]

John, Duck, et al. do you guys know why there are relatively few prii down under? In Europe it's the diesel favoritism that skews the market but what about Oz? In Sydney it's $1.26/L (that's expensive to us Yanks) so I would think that fuel costs alone would make hybrids popular. How many kilometers does the average person drive in a year? Here in the States I think the avg is about 12K miles/year (~19000 km), that's about what I drive each year.

[Orf]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Apr 21 2007, 11:24 PM) [snapback]427637[/snapback]</div>

John, Duck, et al. do you guys know why there are relatively few prii down under? In Europe it's the diesel favoritism that skews the market but what about Oz? In Sydney it's $1.26/L (that's expensive to us Yanks) so I would think that fuel costs alone would make hybrids popular. How many kilometers does the average person drive in a year? Here in the States I think the avg is about 12K miles/year (~19000 km), that's about what I drive each year.
[/b]

The Prius costs too much in Australia. We only have two models - basic and I-Tech - the basic costing $31,273 USD and the I-Tech $39,217 USD.
I do not know the average annual milage in Australia but I would guess it would be below 15,000 km.

[kentricho]

Hey everyone, long time no see again!

I echo what Orf said... the reason why there aren't many Prii in Australia is (what I believe) because of the incredible high cost of the car. Although it didn't stop me from getting it (I'm a geek and wanted one!), it can be slightly out of reach for some people.

Average KM's for an Australian driver I would say is around 20,000-25,000KMs in a year. Although, I travel around 30,000KM's a year. Keeping in mind that in Australia we have to drive further to get somewhere.

For what it's worth, I went to Hawaii with my fiance two weeks ago, went to both Oahu and Maui, and I swear just about every sixth car on the road was a Prius. They have become so popular in the States, that I read in the USA Today newspaper a couple of weeks ago, that Toyota have had to open up three manufacturing plants to build Prii (along with the other hybrids) to cope with the demand. I seriously couldn't believe how many Prii I saw over there.. amazing!

And also, $1.29/L is expensive, however when I bought my Prius, it was around the $1.40/L mark. A couple of months ago, petrol was as low as around $1.04/L. Yes, we get shafted in Australia :-(

[sleeka]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Apr 22 2007, 02:24 PM) [snapback]427637[/snapback]</div>

John, Duck, et al. do you guys know why there are relatively few prii down under? In Europe it's the diesel favoritism that skews the market but what about Oz? In Sydney it's $1.26/L (that's expensive to us Yanks) so I would think that fuel costs alone would make hybrids popular. How many kilometers does the average person drive in a year? Here in the States I think the avg is about 12K miles/year (~19000 km), that's about what I drive each year.
[/b]

I would suggest there are multiple reasons why there are relatively few Prii in Australia.....Until very recently, supply from Japan was less than 100 units per month for the whole of Australia. Consequently, Toyota did very little advertising on them (why create a demand for product you cannot supply), and the majority were used in Government and semi-Government fleets. Less than 50% of Prius on Australian roads are privately registered.

There has been some negative press over the years, and the rumour mill has generated a lot of misinformation about the car. Unless those interested in the car made an effort to do some research and get the facts about what it can do, proper information was not easy to find.
Pricing here is a factor, but once people did their research and did a proper evaluation and comparison with other similar size cars in our market, the overall cost per km and features comparison is quite good.

Without access to proper facts on the car, and the unfortunate misinformation readily available, most people's attitude was to regard them as an interesting, expensive, potentially unreliable battery car with limited performance and driving range. Only those keen enough found what we know to be a great car!

Our fuel pricing is just plain stupid! The Government huffs and puffs that the petrol companies' pricing policies are constantly being watched, but it is hard to justify the constant fluctuations to our pricing on a daily basis, and always upwards just before a long weekend or holiday period when a majority of motorists are taking off on a driving trek to somewhere away from home. Our National average km would be around 15,000 per year.

From recent conversations with Toyota execs here, stock is increasing, and more advertising and sales incentives for Prius are certainly in the pipeline....and not before time! We really need some lobbying at Government level to encourage people to look more at the benefits hybrids can offer....both to individuals financially, and to the world environmentally.

Hopefully, things will improve; but because of the overall size of our new car market (just under 1 million cars per year), and the fact we have 4 manufacturers here employing a large section of our workforce both directly and indirectly through component suppliers, our country will never have a large push for imports, however good they are. The Government and unions won't allow it.

[tripp]

Interesting. There's plenty of misinformation here too. Where do you guys get most of your oil from? I know there are rigs in Bass Straight, but how much oil is produced domestically?

It's funny that a large percentage of prii in Oz are gov't owned but that imports are taboo. I can understand it to some degree, we're all about trade deficits here (actually, any kind of deficit). <_<

Hawaii has the highest gas prices in the States. Here in Colorado I'd say our prices are right about at the national average. There are many, many Prii here, particularly in Boulder (which is a very liberal, university town) where it seems like 4-5% of all the new cars are hybrids. It would be great if Toyo started manufacturing the Prius here in the states. It seems silly to build them in Japan and ship them across the Pacific. The Camry hybrid is manufactured here, at a plant in Kentucky.

[cwone]

The salesman who handled my purchase said that most people were turned off by the 2+ month wait that Prius had at the time. This was due to the low volumes coming from Japan and, I believe, the dealers weren't offered very good margins on the car, so they had little incentive to encourage people to wait it out.

Having said that, in the 6 months that I've owned the car the public profile of them has risen substatially. People now seem to know what the car is and ask questions about the hybrid system (although most still seem to think you have to plug it in, and it costs a lot in electricity to run it) and I've gone from seeing one on the road every couple of days, to seeing several every day.

[Orf]

Another point, Tripp, there is no tax relief for a Prius in Oz unlike the US.

Although I am 74 years old and have never countenanced advertising, logos or messages on a car before because I did not any of that rubbish, the Prius has changed my habit.
I now support a personal rego plate and a mssage - perhaps it's just old age.

[sleeka]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Orf @ Apr 23 2007, 11:41 AM) [snapback]428065[/snapback]</div>

Another point, Tripp, there is no tax relief for a Prius in Oz unlike the US.

Although I am 74 years old and have never countenanced advertising, logos or messages on a car before because I did not any of that rubbish, the Prius has changed my habit.
I now support a personal rego plate and a mssage - perhaps it's just old age.
[/b]

And they both look good too, Orf. I'll have your other ones on the way soon.

Cheers,
John.

[Orf]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sleeka @ Apr 23 2007, 09:35 AM) [snapback]428296[/snapback]</div>

And they both look good too, Orf. I'll have your other ones on the way soon.
[/b]

Thanks, John.

[ronvalencia]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Apr 23 2007, 03:30 AM) [snapback]427833[/snapback]</div>

Interesting. There's plenty of misinformation here too. Where do you guys get most of your oil from? I know there are rigs in Bass Straight, but how much oil is produced domestically?

It's funny that a large percentage of prii in Oz are gov't owned but that imports are taboo. I can understand it to some degree, we're all about trade deficits here (actually, any kind of deficit). <_<

Hawaii has the highest gas prices in the States. Here in Colorado I'd say our prices are right about at the national average. There are many, many Prii here, particularly in Boulder (which is a very liberal, university town) where it seems like 4-5% of all the new cars are hybrids. It would be great if Toyo started manufacturing the Prius here in the states. It seems silly to build them in Japan and ship them across the Pacific. The Camry hybrid is manufactured here, at a plant in Kentucky.
[/b]

Toyota Australia has plans to build hybrid Aurion in Oz by 2011. http://www1.autotrader.com.au/mellor/mello...A2573300081C4DC