hybrid sales

Considering the literal hell Japan has been through since the tsunami hit, the recovery is actually quite remarkable. We got a new hybrid Camry, Prius v, Prius c, and Prius PHV along with steady sales.

Ironically, Toyota is now dealing with a tsunami of Aqua orders.

I know, that was a horrible pun. But I just couldn't resist.
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No great surprise there. A good fraction of new Honda hybrid buyers of the past would never buy a Honda of any type again.

 

I am a long time Consumer Reports subscriber, but plug-ins/EV's are so new on the market, it is hard for me to call wait-and-see attitude among some misguided. Geez I did not get a Prius until half-way through Gen-II run. I have felt CR taking somewhat of an less-than-neutral advocacy position for the plug-ins such as Volt. Maybe just me. Meanwhile Toyota is doing great things with hybrid Prius line, which CR for years said would never pay off at $2/gal gaso - of course it did pay off for Toyota and owners.

 

What's scary is how much shorter that time-span will be with PHV.

There are those (like me!) who await the opportunity to take advantage of what the internet now has to offer. There will be lots of photos & video sharing that simply wasn't realistic until very recently. Heck, even "modern" forums didn't catch on until half-way through Gen-II run.

I suspect it won't take long for PHV frenzy to emerge.
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What do you mean?
The media posting inaccurate stories and forums reposting, then later individuals post their own data that represents the actual truth?

 

It's the same 'ol song and dance in hybrid sales ...

Prius carries the bulk of the load while all other brands and models stand around and watch it ... duhhhhhhhh ... thinking, maybe someday, duhhh, we'll make a direct competitor to the car, duhhh.

What are the chances that in 15 years there won't be a bunch of Prius clones running around from Honda, Ford, etc....? 2%?

So what are they waiting for?

Meanwhile we get to put up with the 40 MPG highway compact car hype, which btw is only availabe in some of the select models, not the main models.

 

At least Honda tried with Insight II, but IMA and smaller batteries vs HSD just didn't cut it. The Prius c should be the final wake-up call for this comepetitor.

There are some problems with hybrids that seem to keep the market share down:
- Few make immediate economical sense.
- Fear mongering. (See the Volt fires for a recent example)
- General misconceptions.
- While Prius is mechanically simpler than a normal car (and has the realiability results to back everything up), other hybrids with anything but a PSD seem to be more complicated.
- No competitive Prius competitors.

I hope the c will be able to compete with the normal Prius in sales numbers, but supply and size might be a problem in the US.

 

All of these contribute, but the biggest issue is the "instant gratification" expectations of Americans. (Not just here, its in many aspects of US life.. education, credit cards, TV...). So the idea of TCO over years is not to be considered by most. And or something that does not fit their personal "image" in terms of looks, speed or performance, does not matter if its greener or cost effective. Maybe its steady at 2% is because that is the fraction of informed intelligent drivers buying new cars who care about more than their self image.

 

dupe post see below

 

That is well said. Also consider this. If one wants the following criteria in a car -

Fuel efficient, anything under 30 MPG avg. does not qualify
4 doors, and must seat four 6ft tall adults with seating for 5
must have cargo capability, a trunk will not do
must seat a tall driver over 6ft tall, Corolla Matrix really doesn't cut it
fairly compact size, over 180" long and 74" wide doesn't count
reputation for high reliability
priced $25k or less

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Check it out, the list of cars that meet all criteria above is shockingly short. IMO, Prius meets all the above, Hyundai Elantra Touring is close but falls short in MPGs, don't know of any others that meet the above.

 

dupe post

 

Yes, the media has been doing the same thing for ages and simply shifted to online. But the rest is quite different. We were just learning what the internet had to offer back then and very few of us were actually content providers. It's dramatically easier to use too, especially with respect to wireless & mobile.

Think about the topic at hand. Who was paying such close to the market back then?
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there are still supply problems, especially after great december... thai flood have impacted hybrid production a lot.

 

To be honest, I'd be concerned about my garage burning down. I don't think garage circuits would have experienced anything like the sustained draw of L2 EV.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't want one, but I'd definitely have the wiring tested properly.

 

Wow, those are stunningly bad sales numbers across the board with few exceptions.

I notice the majority of these cars are in the luxury or at least expensive range. Perhaps lux buyers don't care much, but perhaps brands have to do that to hide some of the hybrid cost. It's great to see the Honda Insight and CR-Z do so badly, they really are substandard vehicles (particularly the CR-Z) and apparently most buyers realize that.

 

There are significantly worse vehicles with significantly higher sales numbers. Look at how many of these are in the hundreds and less - then compare it to the sales of the (nearly universally denounced) new Civic!

 

I would add that the plug-ins/EV's are a little more politically "charged". In contrast to Prius, which was a grass roots corporate R&D accomplishment, without much push from gov't, the plug-ins get a lot of political push including relatively large rebates. Wherever you get political push, you will get some opposing push-back, like we saw at the Volt fire hearings in Congress. As GM CEO recently said, they did not build Volt to be a political football.

 

...its a valid concern, but you can burn down a house with a conventional gaso vehicle too (have a friend that did).... I guess the key point is unattended ops can be risky no matter what the fuel. Implication would be some add'l remote monitoring (fire alarm etc) needed.