Chevy Volt priced cheaper than the Prius? Really? CNET FAIL

This will be a popular item in What Drives Us Ep.

A lot of US auto writers are guilty of it as well, not regarding the price but the MPG. They are not aware that the US gallon is smaller than UK (imperial gallon). They don't know that the test procedures are not the same. So they report the tiny (Class A?) VW Polo Diesel gets better mileage than Prius. In fact, the mid-size (class C?) Prius under the same EU test procedure get better mileage.

 

the truly sad part is that some people will be sucked into the fantasy/nightmare

 

That is embarrassing... For the author of that article!

 

Why everyone is so worked up? It is a cnet.UK after all. Not like any credible journalisme ever came from UK.

 

I believe I'm correct in saying that in the US, car prices are quoted before any sales tax is added on?

Over here cars must be advertised as on-the-road prices: including 17.5% VAT, registering the car, one year's vehicle excise duty (road tax), and a full tank of fuel.

Even allowing for this difference, car prices in the US are always significantly cheaper than the UK. This can cause problems when adapting European models. Ford of America really screwed up the Focus when they cost-reduced it for the North American market - a number of problems were introduced, requiring recalls, that hadn't existed on the original car.

 

A must read for so many that have doubted the Volt for a long while:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/opinion/30neidermeyer.html

 

Not sure which Polo you are talking about, but the Polo Bluemotion does get better mpg than the Prius. The Polo is a B-segment car.

 

Yes, the Polo Bluemotion does consume less diesel than the Prius consumes petrol. The CO2 emissions are the same, while - as is usual for diesels - NOx emissions are higher than the Prius, and CO emissions lower.

However, the sizes go Polo [A] - Golf/Jetta - Passat [C/D]. The Prius is a C/D-size car.

Competitors:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6	Column 7
0	Segment	VW	Toyota	Honda	Ford	Vauxhall/Opel
1	Sub-A	Fox	Aygo	iQ	-	Ka	Agila
2	A	Polo	Yaris	Jazz (Fit)	Fiesta	Corsa
3	B	Golf	Auris	Civic	Focus	Astra
4	C/D	Passat	Avensis	Prius	Accord	Mondeo	Insignia

Of course the continuous creeping inflation of sizes doesn't help understand the segments. A current Polo is larger than an original Golf - hence the addition of the Sub-A segment. A modern Mini is quite large for an A-segment car.

 

Interesting. I guess I was a class off with everything. I had assumed:
Fox - A
Polo - B
Golf - C
Passat - D

Maybe our definitions in North America are slightly different from yours?

 

The industry doesn't generally use the lettered designations any more, but since that's what seftonm started out using, that's what I used - but from memory.

In the UK, The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders now uses:

A - Mini (e.g. Smart fortwo, Ford Ka, Fiat 500, VW Fox)
B - Supermini (e.g. Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz)
C - Lower Medium (e.g. Ford Focus, VW Golf, Honda Civic, Toyota Auris)
D - Upper Medium (Ford Mondeo, VW Passat, Honda Accord, Toyota Avensis)
E - Executive (BMW 5-series, Mercedes C- and E-class - Honda, Ford and Toyota have no entrants)
F - Luxury Saloon (BMW 7-series, Mercedes S-class, VW Phaeton)
G - Specialist Sports
H - 4x4/SUV
I - Multi-Purpose (e.g. Ford Focus C-Max, S-Max, Galaxy; Renault Scenic; VW Touran, Sharan)

Segment A - Mini
• Normally less than 1.0 cc
• Bodystyle “miniature”
• Normally two-door
• Length normally not exceeding 3050 mm (10 feet)

Segment B - Supermini
• Normally between 1.0 - 1.4 CC
• Bodystyle bigger than mini
• Length normally not exceeding 3745 mm (12.5 feet)
• Performance greater than mini
• More variety of trims per range

Segment C - Lower Medium
• Normally between 1.3 - 2.0 CC
• Length under 4230 mm (14 feet)

Segment D - Upper Medium
• Normally between 1.6 - 2.8 CC
• Length normally under 4470 mm (14.9 feet)

Segment E - Executive
• Normally between 2.0 - 3.5 CC
• Bodystyle generally bigger than upper medium
• Normally four-door
• Length normally under 4800 mm (16 feet)
• More luxuriously appointed

Segment F - Luxury Saloon
• Normally upward from 3.5 CC
• Most luxurious available

Segment G - Specialist Sports
• Sports coupés
• Sports saloons
• Traditional sports

Segment H - Dual Purpose (4x4/SUV)
• 4x4 off road

Segment I - Multi Purpose Vehicle
• 4x2 or 4x4 estates with a seating capacity of up to eight people

As you can see, the definitions are a bit vague. The government don't use these classifications for anything, unlike the US EPA, and SMMT doesn't have a readily-accessible database of how cars are classified.

Top five best-sellers in each segment, in 2009:

Mini
Hyundai i10
Toyota iQ
Vauxhall Agila
Suzuki Alto
Chevrolet Matiz

Supermini
Ford Fiesta
Vauxhall Corsa
Peugeot 207
MINI
Toyota Yaris

Lower Medium
Ford Focus
Vauxhall Astra
VW Golf
Audi A3
Nissan Qashqai [I would have thought this was an SUV but apparently not]

Upper Medium
BMW 3 Series
Vauxhall Insignia
Ford Mondeo
VW Passat
Audi A4

Executive
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
BMW 5 Series
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Jaguar XF
Audi A6

Luxury
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
BMW 7 Series
Audi A8
Bentley Continental
Jaguar XJ

Sports
VW Scirocco
Audi TT
Mazda MX-5 [Miata]
BMW Z Series
Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class

4x4/SUV
Honda CR-V
Land Rover Freelander
Ford Kuga
VW Tiguan
Range Rover Sport

MPV
Vauxhall Zafira
Ford S-Max
Ford C-Max
Ford Galaxy
VW Touran

Segment shares:

Mini: 3.4%
Supermini: 37.2%
Lower Medium: 26.6%
Upper Medium: 14.2%
Executive: 4.5%
Luxury Saloon: 0.3%
Specialist Sports: 2.3%
4x4/SUV: 6.6% [sigh]
Multi-Purpose: 4.8%

As I've said several times, the Prius is really a bit big for the European market. Over two-thirds of cars sold in the UK are smaller.

All information from "Motor Industry Facts 2010", http://www.smmt.co.uk/downloads/MotorIndustryFacts.pdf

The Prius is definitely listed as 'Upper Medium':

Table 7 - Lowest CO2 emitter in each segment

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
0	Segment	Average	Lowest	Make/model	Low vs average
1	Mini	115.6	0*	smart fortwo EV	-
2	Supermini	131.9	98	Ford Fiesta/SEAT Ibiza	-25.7%
3	Lower Medium	147.4	99	VW Golf	-32.8%
4	Upper medium	154.4	89	Toyota Prius	-42.4%
5	Executive	177.1	127	Mercedes C Class	-28.3%
6	Luxury	250.3	178	BMW 7 series	-28.9%
7	Sports	201.1	0*	Tesla	-
8	Dual purpose	207.1	129	Toyota Urban Cruiser	-37.7%
9	MPV	169.7	119	Citroen Nemo Multispace	-29.9%

Table from page 17 of SMMT Annual CO2 Report 2010.

 

And maybe you should point out that Mini as a segment is not Mini as in the car!

The original mini (1959-1995?) was tiny, whereas the newer Mini sold from about 2002 onwards is actually quite large for a small car here in Europe.

Regarding the Polo Bluemotion. I get people try and compare this with my Prius telling me it gets similar mpg's. Indeed it does - but it is a couple classes smaller, gets 0-60mph in about 13.5 seconds compared to 10 seconds for the Prius and the Polo is a manual shift.

It is quite an achievement to get such economy out of the car, but it certainly isn't able to be compared like for like.