Prius Sales "glide up" 54 percent in April

My purchase on April 28th was part of the 54% increase in April. I love the car. Great mileage and very quiet. If GM, Ford, & Chrysler built cars like the Prius, or even the Civic Hybrid, they would be selling cars and not looking at unsold trucks & SUVs sitting on their lots. Ford tries with the Escape/Mariner/Tribute hybrid but they don't build enough of them so you can't find them.

 

:heh::heh::heh:

I bet GM is choking on their words now,,,,

I actuallly sent an email to Saturn Customer Service telling them they need to get their act together along with all the other American car makers and get more Hybrid vehicles on the market, I told them their hybrids are a sorry excuse and after 8 years of being a loyal GM customer, they have lost my business probably forever..

They actually did respond back to me, and told me they had a lot of new ideas in the works.. but only time will tell if GM will come close to what Toyota has done..

 

When I bought my Prius in Nov. '07, I knew right away that this is one of the best decisions I've ever made (besides divorcing my wife).

 

I wonder whether Toyota anticipated this sudden surge in demand? I doubt it. When I bought mine back in Decmeber the local dealership had roughly 10 on the lot, so a fairly decent selection from which to choose. Soon thereafter, say in January and February, they had a bunch, probably 20 or more, lined up. A week ago I observed two. Yesterday there were none. I think we are back to a 'shortage' for a while, meaning that dealerships are going to be charging MSRP or possibly even more, and availability is going to be problematic. I'm glad I got mine when I did.

 

Tony, thanks for the link. I love your archive. (January 2004)
"He said it would make some sense for automakers to use the pricey hybrid systems in light trucks to help their sales in that segment meet federal fuel economy regulations. And he said that's why GM will concentrate on hybrids in the light truck models in coming year."

So from Lutz' mouth I can infer that GM has been selling hybrid pickups for 4 years now. What's the problem?

Toyota has a nasty problem that is not affecting GM. Toyota needs to keep sending employees to the bank to deposit money.

Prius supply is always short at the end of the model year. I predict there won't be any Prius leftover sales.

 

Yeah Hardcase, I purchase mine in Nov 10 and got a great deal along with interest free. BTW,Im originally from Whitefish, beautiful country!

 

deja vu all over again!

 

if gas prices stay around $4, in a month or two we''ll be hearing how gas guzzler sales are way down and hybrid sales are way up.

 

This thread is 3 years old so I offer the following predictions: Gold will hit $1500/oz in 3 years, Japan & the US will be hit with floods in 3 years, and a new Prius will be extremely hard to find on NJ dealer lots in 3 years.

 

If you compare Cruise Eco with base Prius, the difference is 4,060$ in price. With 15,000 miles annual and $4/gal fuel savings will be $438 a year. For avg driver it would take 9 years to break even.

Back in 2003 prices were ~2$, so 15-18 years to recover costs?

 

^^ based only on highway MPG if my arithmetic is correct.

 

2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco Automatic
Regular Gasoline
26 City
30 Combined
37 Hwy

2011 Toyota prius
Regular Gasoline
51 City
50 Combined
48 Hwy

2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco Manual Transmission
Regular Gasoline
28 City
33 Combined
42 Hwy

Side-by-Side Comparison

First of all, the 42mpg is from a manual transmission, the automatic is 37mpg!
Secondly, I do not know anybody who lives on the side of the highway. Most people drive for miles to get to the highway and that mileage will be averaged for a combined mpg.

 

no, whatever default on fueleconomy.gov is.

You are confusing highway with freeway. Any car will get best MPG when driven at ~40MPH without many stops (extra urban cycle), not on interstate with 75MPH speed limit.

Yes, the numbers were done using manual tranny, usually better MPG and lower purchase cost.

Even if say it takes 6 not 9 years to break even, how many owners keep car for so long? what avg MPG will be in 6-9 years?

 

Doesn't matter. As long as the car survives 9 years, it will pay back. The original owner will get the savings while they own it, the second owner will be willing to pay more in order to save his share, thus the resale value will be higher.

 

Not sure; not with battery replacement cost. And you don't know what the avg MPG will be after new CAFE implemented.

for example per KBB:
2001 Prius $6,610
2001 Corolla LE $6,545

 

Or for an example in the specified 6 year range:
2005 Prius $15,700
2005 Corollla LE $11,315

 

Assuming 15k miles a year, 50 mpg Prius or 30 mpg Cruze, the Prius saves $600 a year in fuel costs.

So ... Bigger, more refined, feature rich car with a sterling reliability record from a great car company --- compared to a Cruze that has a higher TCO after about 6-7 years.

No brainer.

 

Nothing personal, but I find posts like these so remarkably short-sighted they are offensive.

If you can pollute less for *no additional charge*, and can spend your money outside of OPEC *for no additional charge,*, Wth IS THERE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ?