Grouping all types of hybrid together isn't that informative.

In fact, it gives a false impression of what is actually happening.

Prius sales are pretty much on target for the year...

11,379 Jan
10,895 Feb
20,635 Mar
21,757 Apr
15,011 May
11,765 Jun
14,785 Jul
13,463 Aug
10,873 Sep
11,804 Oct
--------
142,367

.

John, so if H3 sales are up does that suggest that the fact that LDV sales are off 31% isnt' that informative? No. You're just cherry picking data to disprove a point that no one's making. This article is about overall hybrid sales and how they're down 10% (which is actually quite good compared to the rest of the industry) but still gaining market share.

The car industry is a shambles right now. Chalk it up to the volatility of gas prices due to deregulation of oil futures. Obama has to change that. Hybrids are the only cars selling well these days. They are selling as many as they can make.

We should all be pulling for the car industry here. There are a lot of jobs at stake-- a lot of blue and white collar workers. Obama needs to do something there, too.

Avoiding generalization is cherry picking?

.

Are Prius's still hard to find on dealer lots? Or has everyone in the market caught wind of the 2010 Prius and Insight and are waiting until spring now that gas prices have falled significantly?

We toured the Toyota Camry factory on Columbus Day, Oct. 13, and the guide told us hybrid production is limited by the availability of batteries. What a nice problem to have.

Bob Wilson

The article was about hybrid car sales in general (and how those sales fit into the overall LDV sales picture), not the Prius in particular, so you're previous post really isn't germane to the topic at hand. In that sense, yes, you're cherry picking data to make a point that doesn't have much to do with the topic.

Of course we're all pleased that the Prius continues to sale well. Comparing hybrid sales to overall LDV sales, hybrids in general are doing well.

I agree. People who are wanting the US auto makers to fail should be very careful what they wish for. There are a great many industries and businesses that feed into the auto industry and as the economy is faultering those companies are under the cosh too.

It will be interesting to see what happens to hybrids sales given the very soft market for cars and the implosion of oil prices over the last month or so.

Kinda annoying. I doubt Toyota sees it that way. Hopefully though, it's an indication that there are plenty of folks out there that see the current trend in oil valuation as a somewhat temporary valley.

It looks Toyota failed to set the hybrid battery production planning only approx 500k units in 2008.
They are now recovering to offer 800k in 2009 and 1 million in 2010.
Please refer to page 20 of following paper.
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/ir/presentation/2008/pdf/081002presen_1.pdf

Ken@Japan

Good. I'm glad to see that this is more of an issue of planning that real supply constraints. As the price of Nickel falls the batteries will get a touch cheaper, which will be nice.