Europe Wants Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids

Hybrid cars made by other manufacturers are coming soon : Volvo, VW, Opel, ..., not only Ford. All of them will have a deal with the big one : TOYOTA (The Original).
Good for us !
If we are waiting hybrid plug-in cars we'll have a famous glance at the price too.

 

Yes, we want them. unfortunately, the equivalent of a prius V (the T Spirit) costs about $32,500. you can buy a diesel car of equivalent size and nearly as good fuel economy for a -lot- less. When you're paying $6.80 a gallon for petrol, you do have to think very carefully about what will be cheapest for you. often, a diesel will win in purely financial terms.

Plug-ins however turn the thing on it's head. With the Volt i could get to work and back every day without petrol. so rather than ~$3.5 in petrol with the prius (or ~$6 in my old car) i would spend maybe $1 on electricity. The annual savings on my old car are in the -thousands-. add in any opportunity charging, or charging at work, and it gets cheaper still.

But diesel will take some time to die, and there's plenty who won't even consider a non-diesel hybrid....

 

I disagree, there isn't a diesel automatic of the same size as the Prius that costs less. There isn't one. I looked as I required an automatic for my job. You might get a manual transmission car for slightly less than the cost of a Prius. The base model manual transmission Mondeo diesel goes for £18,295.00 (£17,295 base petrol model) against the Prius at £19,500. The Prius has better specifications though, even the base Prius and a Mondeo with the same spec costs about the same.

So the Prius is £1,200 more than a basic Mondeo diesel, yet will easily get 50 UK mpg and 60+ mpg if you try. You might get 50 mpg out of the Mondeo if you take it really easy, but the Prius will still win. Compare the two cars in town and the Prius will win hands down.

Is the Prius worth the price premium over a basic petrol car? Hmmm, depends on your mileage and useage, but a hybrid is better in town than a diesel and slightly better on motorway use. Anyone who does high mileage should consider a hybird, even over the diesel.

I think it's an education thing. People took a while to move from petrol to diesel and then only when the Government came out with some great tax incentives. Now the hybrids are better for fuel and I suppose it will take time for people to realise this and will probably need incentives again. We've been told for the last decade that diesel is better as it is more economical and now all of a sudden it's no longer the top dog.

I think hybrids will take off in the UK and probably Europe too, because there are so many more benefits to a hybrid than the diesel car. Economy is better but the emissions are so much cleaner against even the latest clean(er) diesels. Imagine a thousand small diesels driving slowly into a town in rush hour - the noise, the fumes (even from clean diesel) and then imagine a thousand hybrids.

It's a no brainer. I think hybrids will be adopted here in the next couple years. You're right about plug in techonology though. I think that will probably be adopted very quickly in the UK and Europe, especially cities.

Good to see a fellow Brit on here too

 

Yes you're right i didn't consider the manual/auto issue, but if i was buying purely for economy (and not a cabbie!) i wouldn't look at autos. but even so, the chevrolet cruze in auto diesel form is £17,145 and you'd get a better discount than toyota give. push into the korean brands and i'm sure you can spend even less. Plus of course those other cars will depreciate faster than the prius, making them far more attractive for second hand buyers.

I think our goverment is headed the right way with the £0 road tax and 1st year write off, but some people won't crunch the numbers enough to see the hybrid would be cheaper, and for others it actually won't be.

Having said all that, i looked at it, worked out exactly what the prius would cost me and found it to be slightly more than a diesel. i still i bought one, because the combo of a non-clacketty engine, lower emissions and cool factor were enough to make up for the small cost difference...

 

Not here in Portugal.
There has been a dieselization going on, by putting petrol most costly at pump, for many years 20% difference per liter.
This has been worse since purchase taxes went down for larger displacement engines (diesels were larger, although now getting smaller).
So everybody drives diesel, loves diesel, and does not even think of changing to a petrol engine. I'm talking more than 2/3 of drivers, and consider included the most short commuter or "old granny" than keeps odometer at rest and travels less than 10thou km per year.

The other 1/3 does have a good view of the question, and stubbornly keep rolling on petrol or LPG.
Hidden running costs for diesels include tyres, brakes, turbos, AMmeters, EGR valves...Hidden comfort issues...

So from what I see, here in PT it will be slower share of HV ad PHV if doesn't change basic economic and behaviour issues - perception of broad problems.

 

There are so many hidden costs to diesel that it baffles me people still consider buying them. Ok, they cost a little more to buy but the extra economy helps recoup this. I get asked all the time by diesel owners what would I do if the battery on my Prius dies as they're expensive.

Indeed they are, but so are turbos, EGR valve replacements, blocked DMF's, replacing a clutch at £900 a time every 80,000miles, dodgy dual mass flywheels - I could go on.

You are lucky in Portugal that diesel is cheaper. Here in the UK diesel is between 2p & 5p a litre more expensive. Not a huge difference but it all adds up, especially with the mileage I do.

 

And what about the Nissan Qashqai ?

 

The Euro car market has been driven by gas mileage for decades due to the high gas prices there.

The American market will only turn to hybrids when gas prices get to $4 again. The politicians won't increase gas taxes because it's now poison in this country to increase taxes--even to restore taxes that have been senselessly stripped away for political gain.

The American hybrid market will have to wait for the new mpg standards in 2015 and the current environmental legislation imposing carbon taxes. Until then, cars here will stay hooked on oil.

 

Even at $3 per gallon the hybrid market has started to take off and will increase in sales market share as the reliability of the technology acquires a good reputation. It will depend to a great extent on whether the feature availability is price competitive with the older ICE only technology.

When the Prius Gen III size became a little larger and the cost premium came down, I myself came to the hybrid market and saw a technology that I liked in the reliability of the Toyota. Otherwise even I would not have one now. The pickup population in Texas is high. When you pay a $100 per tank for gasoline, that becomes a big incentive now at $3 a gallon. The hybrid revolution has started now with the Cars 4 Clunker program and will continue based on the cost premium for the hybrid technology.