Where Detroit can (and can't) sell cars

Weaker mileage from Fusion hybrid and the trunk design is ... not so good - battery takes up too much space. Can't imagine what the Fusion Energi looks like .... 5 cu ft trunk??

Around here, the SE SF Bay Area (which btw is fairly near the Tesla mfrg plant, the R&D is across the Bay) ....

import sedans are king - Camry, Accord, Civic, Corolla, Hyundai, Mazda, Kia ....

but, some Focus, Cruze (both are nice looking compact sedan).

And quite a few Prius around. Actually don't see that many Prius c and v, but lots of liftbacks both 2nd and 3rd gen.

Saw coworker hop out of a Lincoln Navigator today. I'm thinking 'is he nuts?' Oh what fun it would be dumping $100 of gas in that land barge to go only 375 miles. Maybe dude has kids and I don't expect him to stuff them all in a liftback Pri, but geez, could he squeeze by on a mini-van??

Anyone else seeing the ads for 2013 Avalon Hybrid ??

40 MPG average in a luxury sedan hybrid ? That is off the hook! I still say 40 MPG is a great first benchmark for midsize hybrid sedans. 28 for non-hybrid to 40 mpg would be nice gas savings.

but, a very easy way to save gas consumption and clear the clogged roads is too......

carpool !!

Well, I don't plan on changing cars, but I will keep an eye on Fusion and C-Max hybrids. I wouldn't buy the 2013 Fusion hybrid, not just because of its Fe problems but also the trunk is a no go.

I kinda like the C-Max, but would prefer a midsize hybrid sedan next time around, which hopefully is like 15 years from now.

 

That's just pandering. Note they didn't flash any statistics to show their point. My red state has a Toyota plant and tons of prii. I don't know a state that

California is different, it likes the idea of unions, but won't buy a car built by one.

I would say Tesla is among the highest tech and its American. Of the true innovations that are in cars, most have come from US and Germany not Japan. The author needs to relearn what tech means. From the earnings reports the American car companies are doing well in America, they are doing very badly in Europe.

 

Yep. In California, amongst passenger cars "import" brands are definitely king. Amongst trucks and SUVs, esp. battering ram of death class (aka full-sized ones), not necessarily.

California New Car Dealers Association has reports which show share by brand and top selling cars here in CA.

Yeah, I hardly see any Prius c. I see a few Prius v every now and then. There are quite a few Gen 2 and Gen 3 Prius liftbacks running around w/an occasional PiP.

You should come to my part of San Jose and sit at one particular intersection or the supermarket parking lot near where I live.

The % of monstrosity class SUVs being driven solo and/or minimal cargo and passengers in my area is just disgusting. I get even more disgusted when see extended length versions (e.g. Yukon XL, Escalade ESV) or even heavier beasts like Hummer H2s and Ford Exxon Valdezes (aka Excursions). I've seen people actually driving around new battering rams of death (look brand new and no plates yet).

A few weeks ago, in a different area, I saw 2 Excretions in the span of a few minutes, of course being driven either solo or w/minimal passengers and cargo.

Up in WA, "imports" were also very common amongst cars. Subarus were amazingly popular there. If you only lived up there, you'd incorrectly think that they're as popular everywhere else.

 

I second that, infact I also have a '01 Outback. Northern Idaho and Wa. have so many Subaru's in the winter 1 out of every 3 seems to be a subbie.
In the summer the Prii come out of hiding and the subaru's are put away 'till winter. Still more imports than the detroit big 3.

 

This seems to get lost on Prius drivers.

I still don't understand the HOV stickers for the hybrids or the plugins. Houston doesn't grant special HOV lane access for hybrids and plugins and the adoption rate is strong.

 

While obvious and true that the majority of hybrid sales are to progressives, it does not necessarily follow that this group would shun a GOOD domestic hybrid.

Second, so long as the hybrid market is stalled at 3% GM does not really care about it. If and when fuel prices jump and stay high GM will be in world of hurt and appear short-sighted. Until then senior exec bonuses have to keep rolling.

 

Would these numbers then be the 'per Prius' capita rate ? I presume the numbers are state population / state Prius population.

 

This is pretty much dribble, and they didn't show the statistics. Ford and GM and Toyota are all doing very well in north America. Ford and GM are having big problems in Europe causing them to lose lots of money. Ford and GM small cars have turned around. The fiesta, focus, cruze, sonic are the most successful they have every been in north America. The Camry still is king of the midsize hill, the Malibu doen't do well against it, but the fusion looks like it will do just fine. Tesla is king of technology.

+1

If you look at ford, all of their profits seem to come from pick up trucks. 2014 will see a lighter more efficient f-series. I see lots of tacomas in texas too, contrary to the articles red blue divide.

The 1.8L light pick up is not low hanging fruit though. According to Ford marketing, and they may be off, most that were buying the 4 cyl regular cab rangers for fuel economy are getting moved into cars. There just isn't much fuel savings versus the V6 when you need power to tow. That is why Toyota and Ford are working together on a hybrid pick up that will I hope get very good city mileage. I don't expect anything for at least 3 years.


It won't be getting 50 MPG on the highway but 40 MPG with 50 MPG in the city would be awesome. Even a modest towing capacity and hot-dog, we're talking a market too long ignored.


Bob Wilson[/quote]
I would expect a Tacoma or a F-series hybrid to do much better than current in the city, but 50mpg is just not realistic. A truck needs to have tires that can haul and tow, and that means much higher rolling resistance than the prius.