Hurry Up and Get Your Prius before it's too late!!!

Do you remember when gasoline prices were at $4.00 a gallon, and dealers were marking the Prius up to $30,000+ ?
With the short supply of 2010 Prius cars already, if the price of gasoline continues to go up, the demand/supply ratio for the 2010s could surge. I am not trying to make this an Armageddon post or say that you need to rush and not negotiate. Certainly not. What I am saying is that if you wait too long, you could end up paying a lot more.


Historical Price Charts - Orange County Gas Prices

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First, let's keep in mind that the average person probably isn't analyzing graphs like we are. They see the price at the pump hitting $3.05 (that's what it is here in Orange County right now), and they make their decision based on that.

I'm not a dealer, and upon noticing what you mean about time-period, I have to laugh with you. I apologize for that. You're graph appears to be the exact opposite though. From your graph, I see an upward trend now. It's heading back up.

Best time to buy a Prius ... I don't expect oil prices to continue to rise (although they may), YET. I'm expecting to see a leveling-off in oil prices now, but then an increase in a month or so. It's hard to tell when the best time to buy a Prius will be. It all depends on the oil prices. The thing is (I've been trading stocks and watching commodities charts most of my life), oil prices could just as easily go up or down right now. Oil prices have gone up because the value of the dollar has gone down (because the U.S. Govt. has released billions in "stimulus," which has diluted the value of the dollar). Much as people bought gold 100 years ago (because it was tangible, unlike the "i owe you" of paper money), today banks buy oil because it is tangible and there will be a demand for it regardless of whether paper money has value or not. When the dollar goes down, oil goes up. Also, as the U.S. economy recovers, the demand for energy, and therefore oil, will increase; causing demand for oil and oil prices to increase. I think we are sitting in a window, much like the eye of a hurricane, right now in oil prices. I say get that Prius before the eye passes over.

Can someone explain why these two graphs diverged so much between 6/5 and today?

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I assume this is more of what you want posted up here. Okay, let's analyze it...
Have the local minimums been increasing? Have the local maximums been increasing? Has the range between the maximums and minimums been increasing? Could the first half of the graph be used to predict the second half of the graph? Has volatility increased? What do you predict will happen as the graph continues into the future? What about outside factors? Has the world changed? Has the commodities market changed? (well, if oil hit $143/barrel last year, then yes, we have broken from tradition - but, will the future fall back into tradition, or did we enter a new phase last year?)
Now, let's talk about the Prius ... as millions of people retire their SUVs over the next year or two or three, will there be an increase in *demand* for hybrids (expecially the Prius)?
*Notice that the current price of oil is lower than last year's minimum (for Chicago).


But above all other things ... as we move forward in 2009, will demand for the new Prius be strictly tied to gasoline prices? I'm not so sure that it will. I have been seeing a lot of new Prius on the street over the past six months, even with gasoline prices low. I think people are buying the Prius not simply because of gasoline prices but because they think it is cool (not everyone, but many people).