Most Hybrid Drivers in Boston Don't Buy Hybrids Again, Says Edmunds.com

Edmunds.com

Most Hybrid Drivers in Boston Don't Buy Hybrids Again, Says Edmunds.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — April 17, 2012 — Only 38.4 percent of hybrid vehicle owners in Boston chose to purchase a hybrid again when they returned to the car market in 2011, according to an Edmunds.com analysis of new car registration data provided by Polk.

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codyroo

Ugh. What a crap article.

1) No one has yet to tell me when the buyback period is for the upgraded leather, heated seats with built in lumbar support in my car. Ditto that for the ceramic tint I had put on the windows.

2) Which hybrids are they driving? A Chevy "mild hybrid" which improved the fuel mileage by 2 mpg? An SUV or a truck hybrid? A Honda civic or Toyota Prius hybrid, which return high MPG's?

3) Fuel prices were low in 2011 (not as low at 2009, but lower than 2012) which is what the article states as their sample timeframe. I agree, there are some great looking cars that get nice MPG's, but if they did a repeat of this study for car buyers in the first half of 2012, would they see different results? Fuel prices going up ($4.40 in the SF Bay Area), new hybrid models on the market (Hyundai has some nice looking cars, new Prius C and V, redesigned Camry hybrid, Ford Fusion hybrid, etc) I bet this story would change.

It would be nice to see the author tease out the data a bit in the article. Like what car the people previously had and what they ended up buting.