And his point was that hybrids are a part of the future for a long time.
The hybrids may be for Toyota. I would be surprised if Honda keeps selling even the Civic hybrid with those poor sales figures. I would say when they get the diesel approved and on the lots, the hybrids will be phased out. Even with Toyota they will only sell enough to keep CAFE numbers high and maintain that green glow. It is all PR nothing more.
It is the President's job, as in every company, to promote the company's agenda at every opportunity; to the press, analysts, employees. Just as with any country the President when in public is the No 1 cheerleader.
This is perfectly normal IMO. His primary job is to increase the value of the company for the shareholders, ditto Ford, Gates, Buffett, etc.
The point, as I read his reported statement, is that for Toyota anyway hybrid vehicles are the key technology for the intermediate term ( 10-20 yrs ).
Again from the reports I sense that there was some question about how 'committed' is Toyota to this technology? The answer is that it is proceeding according to plan and that in fact it is succeeding since '.. there are more hybrids....' Nowhere does he state or imply that hybrids are better than any other vehicle. This isn't a good vs evil comparison it's only a President's statement of what appears to be success on Toyota's part in it's commitment to developing a new technology. Another comparison might be that by the end of next year Toyota will have created here a whole new brand called 'Hybrid' which outsells the entire Mazda brand. I do note however that one Japanese company never puts any other Japanese company in a bad light.
Saab unveils biofuel hybrid dream By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News, British International Motor Show
The Saab Bio Power Hybrid could go on sale one day Saab has unveiled its automotive vision for a greener future at the British International Motor Show. The Swedish subsidiary of the embattled American automotive giant General Motors has already made a name as a leading maker of biofuel cars, which can run on any mixture between ordinary petrol and E85, a fuel blend that contains 85% bioethanol made from plants.
In the future, Saab intends to go one step further with its Bio Power Hybrid, a concept car that combines a plant-powered engine with an electric one, thus reducing emissions even further.
There is no news yet about when such a car could hit the tarmac, but Saab's hybrid head Martin Elliot is confident that in a few years "we'll get something on the market" similar to what is on display.
In YTD-2006, SUV (with truck chassis) had 13 % sales decline and in June-2006, its above 20 %. Hummer & GMC are the leading losers.
July gas prices were even higher, guess what will be the decline.
Hybrid sales are increasing steadily and with more models, more people could get into that segment.
Accoriding to latest news, Kuwait is going to reduce their oil production in line with their reserves. Their actual reserves are only 50 % of the original stated. Expect even higher gas prices.
The next thing in Hybrids - the FRED FLINTSTONE hybrid:
But for the ultimate in fuel economy, a Swiss-based company says the "Verde" is hard to beat. The three-wheeled hybrid produces no pollutants and gets the equivalent of more than 700 kilometers per gallon. Verde owner Walt Breitinger says there's just one catch -- you have to pedal part of the time.
"At slow speeds, it's a bicycle with electric assist. But most of the time, if I'm going over 25 miles per hour [40 kilometers per hour], it's primarily an electric car with human power assist."
One year after Hurricane Katrina left a high-price mark of $3-plus per gallon of gasoline, Americans are finally getting serious about switching to smaller cars and alternative fuel vehicles. The best indicator of current interest, it seems, is the change in behavior on automotive Web sites, where searches and requests for small cars and hybrids are surging.
In the second quarter of 2006, online requests for information on Toyota Tundra and Chevy Silverado trucks fell 43% year-over-year, despite incentives, according to Autobytel and reported by Internet Retailer. Requests also fell 50% for the Dodge Ram; 38% for the Honda Ridgeline; 52% for the Nissan Titan; and 34% for the Ford F-150.
At the same time, consumers were checking out smaller cars and hybrids. In the second quarter, Autobytel found that requests for the Toyota Echo/Yaris rose 835% and they increase by 110% for the Ford Escape Hybrid.
...since the Yaris didn't exist last year, I suspect demand WOULD be much higher this year. ;-)
But I don't trust those huge figures about the year-over-year truck decline. In July last year the Detroit 3 were all doing the employee pricing discount and the truck sales were hitting records. For the year, pickup trucks are down around 12%, not 50%.
But hybrids are looking more affordable. For the Escape, with the rebates and the tax credits it costs about the same as the V6.
The three automakers are making a hybrid push a decade after Toyota first began selling Prius cars and are spending half the US$2 billion Toyota officials said it spent on hybrid research in the 1990s. Toyota, the world's No. 2 automaker, has sold more than 600,000 hybrids worldwide. Honda Motor Co, the world's second biggest marker of hybrids, is quadrupling production of the fuel-efficient cars in Japan.
This year's Michelin Challenge Bibendum, a worldwide symposium on sustainable road mobility, featured a number of current production hybrid vehicles, as well as demonstrations of new hybrid systems currently under development by different manufacturers. Some manufacturers also had current hybrid vehicles powered with alternative fuels for the internal combustion engine to further reduce emissions. Both PSA Peugeot Citroen and DaimlerChrysler presented hybrid vehicles that combined diesel internal combustion engines with an electric motor.
The Scuderi design dedicates one side of the engine to combustion and the other two pistons as a dedicated air compressor. Gas is compressed in the compression cylinder and transferred to the power cylinder through a gas passage. All this unique design needs to be converted into an air-hybrid is the addition of an air tank, according to Steve Scuderi, one of the firm's founders.
Scuderi is honest in his assessment of the drawbacks of an air-hybrid design but is certain that the technology's advantages make it an exciting alternative to electric-hybrids.
'While electric-hybrids can take energy and hold it for a longer period of time the problem with air-hybrids is that the energy is stored as heated, compressed air. This, of course, means that as the tank cools the energy dissipates,' he said.
However not only are the batteries in electric-hybrids big, heavy and difficult to dispose of, they also take a long time to store the energy, according to Scuderi.
Sales by Toyota and Honda and GM ( belatedly ) don't reflect that.
Other 'professionals' which might have been left on the 'sigh'dlines' and are now considering other alternatives would naturally be less enthusiastic about it. They can't participate so onto exploring other avenues.
You know that Autoextremist guy is basically "anti-hybrid", right?
And as you said, with hybrid sales at an all-time high, how important are these people's "guesses" anyway?
I especially like this "fantasy" question:
"If all of the following were equally available and equally cost-effective, which would you think would provide the single best solution for reducing petroleum/foreign oil consumption, improved efficiency, and reduced emissions? [Pick one]."
fuel-cell 26.8% flex-fuel 18.1% hydrogen burners 17.6% clean diesel 13.6% much more efficient gassers 12.1% plug-in hybrids 4.6% hybrids 3.8% electric vehicles 3.1%
Considering that TODAY, in 2006, with an almost 10 year head start, the Hybrids are the only vehicle available TODAY which is on that list, HOW ON PLANET EARF can all those other guys catch hybrids in those three categories in just 10 years? Equally Cost Effective and Equally Available? Like that's even possible !!! :surprise:
You left out the most important aspect to a vehicle purchase for me. LONG TERM maintenance costs. When I see 2000 model Prius still looking good and running good with just normal maintenance costs in 2015, I will consider them a good platform. Not everyone drives the crap out of a car and dumps it in 3-5 years. I think the average car is 6.5 years. That is the age of the first USA Prius. Insight the oldest hybrid in the USA is listed in lemonaidcars.com.
Hybrids have a good ways to go to prove their longevity. 150k miles means nothing to me. 15 years of good service does.
Gary, you are the only old fuddy-duddy I have EVER heard say that a car has to last 15 years to "prove longevity."
I have known probably one or two people who have driven a vehicle that long in my whole 43 years on Earf, and those were both old farm work trucks.
People in 2006 RARELY keep vehicles they DRIVE DAILY for more than 8 or 9 years. They become too costly to repair - even REGULAR GASSERS. That would be nothing new that a hybrid would become too costly to repair at the same life span.
Well let me tell you something, you young whipper-snapper! My Model "A" still has the original brake pad and never been over-hauled, and runs like a top with 530,000 miles on it! :mad:
After 10 years the vehicle, any normal vehicle, is only worth about $1000 anyway so really who cares if it's ready to trade at that time or being driven until it's dust.
Any normal vehicle 10 yrs old with 150+K miles that has any issues like a tranny or computer chips or in the hybrid case a battery is just a trade off between putting $2000-$3000 into a vehicle worth only $1000 or buying a newer one. People do this calculation every day, rebuild a tranny for $2500 and drive it another 5 yrs or dump it for $1000 and get something new.
With extreme exceptions nearly all original owners are tired of their current wheels at 10 yrs anyway.
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) - A homebuilder looking to unload five new energy-efficient homes in a senior citizen housing development has offered to give away hybrid cars to buyers instead of cutting prices
The sales of Hybrid Vehicles in the month of August 2006 was Toyota (including Lexus) - 20,441 Prius - 11,177 Camry Hybrid - 4,977 Highlander Hybrid - 2,581
yerth10 wrote: The sales of Hybrid Vehicles in the month of August 2006 was Toyota (including Lexus) - 20,441 Prius - 11,177 Camry Hybrid - 4,977 Highlander Hybrid - 2,581
RX-400 - 1,514 GS-450 - 192
To put it into perspective, Toyota hybrid sales nearly exceed the entire Mazda line including trucks. Next year with the TCH in full production 25000 units monthly should be the norm.
That's a good question and it remains to be seen what the effect is. The respective tax credits will each go down by 50% from 10-1 through 3-31-07 Prius .. $3150 ==> $1575 TCH .... $2600 ==> $1300 HH ..... $2600 ==> $1300
Then down again by 50% after 3-31 until 9-30-07 when they will be $0. Unless the program is extended by Congress.
Election year, this is, and the Presidential one two years away, all. I think you can safely bet it will be extended, or replaced by something even more generous.
Last week, the Edmunds’ analysts reversed their stand on hybrids, saying some of them now make good financial sense. Consumer Reports said it also is looking into updating its analysis, factoring in today’s higher gasoline prices and more recent sales incentives.
Three major factors have changed in calculating the cost-advantages of hybrids: gasoline prices are higher, premiums over sticker price have come down, and the federal tax incentive changed this year from a tax deduction to a tax credit.
Consumers are taking notice. Last week, Consumer Reports released a study showing that fuel efficiency was the No. 1 feature consumers now look for in an automobile and 44 percent of the people questioned were interested in hybrids.
Consumers are taking notice. Last week, Consumer Reports released a study showing that fuel efficiency was the No. 1 feature consumers now look for in an automobile and 44 percent of the people questioned were interested in hybrids.
Yet oddly the findings of that poll are NOT reflected in the sales figures....
Welcome to the world of people telling pollsters one thing..doing another! :P
You are correct about the "nothing new to report" part of your comment, because Your report is 15 months old.
The report is from 22 August 2006 and the Straightline entry was posted 5 September 2006 which is today.
How can you possibly calculate this as 15 months old larsb? :surprise: :confuse: :sick: Did you calculate the age of the information the same way you calculate hybrid ownership costs? :P
Actually, it looks like Bob edited the Straight Line posting sometime AFTER he posted it, although there is no statement that it was edited.
Now, despite a recent spike in gas prices, the craze has cooled.
Roger DaLomba, sales manager at Herb Chambers Honda, said there's no waiting list for a hybrid car, and sales on the vehicles have stayed about the same over the past year.
Honda offers three hybrid models: the Civic, which gets an estimated 50 mpg, the Accord, which gets gas mileage in the high 30s, and the Insight, which is adver tised at 70 mpg.
What is selling like crazy, DaLomba said, is the Honda Pilot, a V6 SUV that apparent ly is becoming popular with drivers of larger, gas-guzzling SUVs looking to downsize their vehicle, as well as their payments at the pump.
Consumers said they would expect to pay $5,250 more for a hybrid than a similar gasoline-only model. The actual premiums for hybrids range from $3,000 to $10,000, Power said.
But those same potential buyers said they expect a hybrid to get 28 more miles per gallon than a gasoline-only car. Hybrid owners have told Power their improvement averages about 9 mpg.
The pertinent paragraph from the story I posted earlier today:
"Last week, the Edmunds’ analysts reversed their stand on hybrids, saying some of them now make good financial sense. Consumer Reports said it also is looking into updating its analysis, factoring in today’s higher gasoline prices and more recent sales incentives."
So long as gas remains near or above $3.00 gallon more and more will be looking at alternatives.... and the tax credits spur that thinking.
Even though the price of gas has fallen recently, typical for end of Summer, it hasn't in many places, including here in Reno, where it is about $3.05, down from $3.11/09 per gallon a month ago.
I look for an even more extensive tax credit, deduction scheme from Congress soon, or at the very least before the 2008 elections.
Forget Hybrid CarsThe hybrid car has become a convenient fantasy. It is a comfortable but false solution to the energy problem now seen as $3 a gallon gas, that will become an unthinkable crisis when gasoline is no longer available at any price.
In 1990, California legislated the car of the future to be zero-pollution electric. The revealing joke was that it was a good idea if someone also invented a long enough extension cord. It took 600 pounds of batteries for the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline.
Comments
And his point was that hybrids are a part of the future for a long time.
I've started a discussion to discuss this Tesla Roadster - electric car that can beat a Porsche
The hybrids may be for Toyota. I would be surprised if Honda keeps selling even the Civic hybrid with those poor sales figures. I would say when they get the diesel approved and on the lots, the hybrids will be phased out. Even with Toyota they will only sell enough to keep CAFE numbers high and maintain that green glow. It is all PR nothing more.
This is perfectly normal IMO. His primary job is to increase the value of the company for the shareholders, ditto Ford, Gates, Buffett, etc.
The point, as I read his reported statement, is that for Toyota anyway hybrid vehicles are the key technology for the intermediate term ( 10-20 yrs ).
Again from the reports I sense that there was some question about how 'committed' is Toyota to this technology? The answer is that it is proceeding according to plan and that in fact it is succeeding since '.. there are more hybrids....' Nowhere does he state or imply that hybrids are better than any other vehicle. This isn't a good vs evil comparison it's only a President's statement of what appears to be success on Toyota's part in it's commitment to developing a new technology. Another comparison might be that by the end of next year Toyota will have created here a whole new brand called 'Hybrid' which outsells the entire Mazda brand. I do note however that one Japanese company never puts any other Japanese company in a bad light.
Dream on, my friend. That aint gonna happen.....
ROFLMTOANL (rolling on floor laughing my tail off all night long)
2010 in the US market:
Toyota : 25% hybrids; 15% diesel; 10% flexfuel; 50% gassers
GM : 25% flexfuel; 20% diesel; 5% hybrids; 50% gassers
Ford : 20% flexfuel; 15% diesel; 10% hybrids; 55% gassers
Honda : 25% diesel; 10% hybrids; 10% flexfuel; 55% gassers
DC/MB : 25% diesel; 5% hybrids; 5% flexfuel; 65% gassers
Nissan : 25% diesel; <5% hybrids; 70% gassers
Saab unveils biofuel hybrid dream
By Jorn Madslien
Business reporter, BBC News, British International Motor Show
The Saab Bio Power Hybrid could go on sale one day
Saab has unveiled its automotive vision for a greener future at the British International Motor Show.
The Swedish subsidiary of the embattled American automotive giant General Motors has already made a name as a leading maker of biofuel cars, which can run on any mixture between ordinary petrol and E85, a fuel blend that contains 85% bioethanol made from plants.
In the future, Saab intends to go one step further with its Bio Power Hybrid, a concept car that combines a plant-powered engine with an electric one, thus reducing emissions even further.
There is no news yet about when such a car could hit the tarmac, but Saab's hybrid head Martin Elliot is confident that in a few years "we'll get something on the market" similar to what is on display.
July gas prices were even higher, guess what will be the decline.
Hybrid sales are increasing steadily and with more models, more people could get into that segment.
Accoriding to latest news, Kuwait is going to reduce their oil production in line with their reserves. Their actual reserves are only 50 % of the original stated. Expect even higher gas prices.
The next thing in Hybrids - the FRED FLINTSTONE hybrid:
But for the ultimate in fuel economy, a Swiss-based company says the "Verde" is hard to beat. The three-wheeled hybrid produces no pollutants and gets the equivalent of more than 700 kilometers per gallon. Verde owner Walt Breitinger says there's just one catch -- you have to pedal part of the time.
"At slow speeds, it's a bicycle with electric assist. But most of the time, if I'm going over 25 miles per hour [40 kilometers per hour], it's primarily an electric car with human power assist."
ROFLMTOANL !!!!
One year after Hurricane Katrina left a high-price mark of $3-plus per gallon of gasoline, Americans are finally getting serious about switching to smaller cars and alternative fuel vehicles. The best indicator of current interest, it seems, is the change in behavior on automotive Web sites, where searches and requests for small cars and hybrids are surging.
In the second quarter of 2006, online requests for information on Toyota Tundra and Chevy Silverado trucks fell 43% year-over-year, despite incentives, according to Autobytel and reported by Internet Retailer. Requests also fell 50% for the Dodge Ram; 38% for the Honda Ridgeline; 52% for the Nissan Titan; and 34% for the Ford F-150.
At the same time, consumers were checking out smaller cars and hybrids. In the second quarter, Autobytel found that requests for the Toyota Echo/Yaris rose 835% and they increase by 110% for the Ford Escape Hybrid.
But I don't trust those huge figures about the year-over-year truck decline. In July last year the Detroit 3 were all doing the employee pricing discount and the truck sales were hitting records. For the year, pickup trucks are down around 12%, not 50%.
But hybrids are looking more affordable. For the Escape, with the rebates and the tax credits it costs about the same as the V6.
The three automakers are making a hybrid push a decade after Toyota first began selling Prius cars and are spending half the US$2 billion Toyota officials said it spent on hybrid research in the 1990s. Toyota, the world's No. 2 automaker, has sold more than 600,000 hybrids worldwide. Honda Motor Co, the world's second biggest marker of hybrids, is quadrupling production of the fuel-efficient cars in Japan.
Hybrids at Challenge Bibendum
Citroen C4 HDi diesel hybrid. Photo: © 2006, Michelin North America, Inc.
Click to enlarge
by Mike Meredith
Hybrid power systems continue to evolve, with several new systems on display at Challenge Bibendum.
Click to enlarge
smart fortwo cdi diesel hybrid. Photo: © 2006, Michelin North America, Inc.
Click to enlarge
Amberjac Projects plug-in Toyota Prius hybrid. Photo: © 2006, Michelin North America, Inc.
advertisement
This year's Michelin Challenge Bibendum, a worldwide symposium on sustainable road mobility, featured a number of current production hybrid vehicles, as well as demonstrations of new hybrid systems currently under development by different manufacturers. Some manufacturers also had current hybrid vehicles powered with alternative fuels for the internal combustion engine to further reduce emissions.
Both PSA Peugeot Citroen and DaimlerChrysler presented hybrid vehicles that combined diesel internal combustion engines with an electric motor.
Unique design
The Scuderi design dedicates one side of the engine to combustion and the other two pistons as a dedicated air compressor. Gas is compressed in the compression cylinder and transferred to the power cylinder through a gas passage. All this unique design needs to be converted into an air-hybrid is the addition of an air tank, according to Steve Scuderi, one of the firm's founders.
Scuderi is honest in his assessment of the drawbacks of an air-hybrid design but is certain that the technology's advantages make it an exciting alternative to electric-hybrids.
'While electric-hybrids can take energy and hold it for a longer period of time the problem with air-hybrids is that the energy is stored as heated, compressed air. This, of course, means that as the tank cools the energy dissipates,' he said.
However not only are the batteries in electric-hybrids big, heavy and difficult to dispose of, they also take a long time to store the energy, according to Scuderi.
Hybrids Losing Steam
Other 'professionals' which might have been left on the 'sigh'dlines'
The market will out in the long run.
And as you said, with hybrid sales at an all-time high, how important are these people's "guesses" anyway?
I especially like this "fantasy" question:
"If all of the following were equally available and equally cost-effective, which would you think would provide the single best solution for reducing petroleum/foreign oil consumption, improved efficiency, and reduced emissions? [Pick one]."
fuel-cell 26.8%
flex-fuel 18.1%
hydrogen burners 17.6%
clean diesel 13.6%
much more efficient gassers 12.1%
plug-in hybrids 4.6%
hybrids 3.8%
electric vehicles 3.1%
Considering that TODAY, in 2006, with an almost 10 year head start, the Hybrids are the only vehicle available TODAY which is on that list, HOW ON PLANET EARF can all those other guys catch hybrids in those three categories in just 10 years? Equally Cost Effective and Equally Available? Like that's even possible !!! :surprise:
Not happnin......
They keyword there is "fantasy". :P
Hybrids have a good ways to go to prove their longevity. 150k miles means nothing to me. 15 years of good service does.
I have known probably one or two people who have driven a vehicle that long in my whole 43 years on Earf, and those were both old farm work trucks.
People in 2006 RARELY keep vehicles they DRIVE DAILY for more than 8 or 9 years. They become too costly to repair - even REGULAR GASSERS. That would be nothing new that a hybrid would become too costly to repair at the same life span.
:P
Any normal vehicle 10 yrs old with 150+K miles that has any issues like a tranny or computer chips or in the hybrid case a battery is just a trade off between putting $2000-$3000 into a vehicle worth only $1000 or buying a newer one. People do this calculation every day, rebuild a tranny for $2500 and drive it another 5 yrs or dump it for $1000 and get something new.
With extreme exceptions nearly all original owners are tired of their current wheels at 10 yrs anyway.
:confuse:
Aren't there a few 100k flex-fuel vehicles on the road RIGHT NOW?
Yes, the fuel is by no means 'equally available and cost-effective' but the VEHICLES certainly are available.
http://www.fox6.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=164BD18A-80EB-4B37-8AF4-B77- 623784C7E
Hybrids Draw Gaining Interest
Toyota (including Lexus) - 20,441
Prius - 11,177
Camry Hybrid - 4,977
Highlander Hybrid - 2,581
RX-400 - 1,514
GS-450 - 192
Honda - 4,019
Civic Hybrid - 3,411
Accord Hybrid - 499
Insight - 109
These 2 companies have sold 24,460. Sales of Escape / Mariner and Saturn Vue is not know.
I guess all 3 will have atleast 1000 which will make Aug-2006 the 2nd highest.
Slowly Hybrids will gain share.
The sales of Hybrid Vehicles in the month of August 2006 was
Toyota (including Lexus) - 20,441
Prius - 11,177
Camry Hybrid - 4,977
Highlander Hybrid - 2,581
RX-400 - 1,514
GS-450 - 192
To put it into perspective, Toyota hybrid sales nearly exceed the entire Mazda line including trucks. Next year with the TCH in full production 25000 units monthly should be the norm.
No idea as how many they are selling in China and rest of Asia.
Prius .. $3150 ==> $1575
TCH .... $2600 ==> $1300
HH ..... $2600 ==> $1300
Then down again by 50% after 3-31 until 9-30-07 when they will be $0. Unless the program is extended by Congress.
Election year, this is, and the Presidential one two years away, all. I think you can safely bet it will be extended, or replaced by something even more generous.
It costs only 3 K more than V6 model and will get that money very quickly since V6 will give a very low mileage.
As for the pickup, Hybrid is just 1 second slower, but it has a longer range, more smooth ride and lot of show off and green image.
Slowly Toyota may drop V6, replacing cylinders with motors is the beginning.
Nothing new to report.
Here is some CURRENT analysis:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/15410077.htm
Last week, the Edmunds’ analysts reversed their stand on hybrids, saying some of them now make good financial sense. Consumer Reports said it also is looking into updating its analysis, factoring in today’s higher gasoline prices and more recent sales incentives.
Three major factors have changed in calculating the cost-advantages of hybrids: gasoline prices are higher, premiums over sticker price have come down, and the federal tax incentive changed this year from a tax deduction to a tax credit.
Consumers are taking notice. Last week, Consumer Reports released a study showing that fuel efficiency was the No. 1 feature consumers now look for in an automobile and 44 percent of the people questioned were interested in hybrids.
OOPS.......
Yet oddly the findings of that poll are NOT reflected in the sales figures....
Welcome to the world of people telling pollsters one thing..doing another! :P
The report is from 22 August 2006 and the Straightline entry was posted 5 September 2006 which is today.
How can you possibly calculate this as 15 months old larsb?
Did you calculate the age of the information the same way you calculate hybrid ownership costs? :P
Actually, it looks like Bob edited the Straight Line posting sometime AFTER he posted it, although there is no statement that it was edited.
Now, despite a recent spike in gas prices, the craze has cooled.
Roger DaLomba, sales manager at Herb Chambers Honda, said there's no waiting list for a hybrid car, and sales on the vehicles have stayed about the same over the past year.
Honda offers three hybrid models: the Civic, which gets an estimated 50 mpg, the Accord, which gets gas mileage in the high 30s, and the Insight, which is adver tised at 70 mpg.
What is selling like crazy, DaLomba said, is the Honda Pilot, a V6 SUV that apparent ly is becoming popular with drivers of larger, gas-guzzling SUVs looking to downsize their vehicle, as well as their payments at the pump.
They got the "Craze" part of the hybrids correct.
Here is where it goes (in case you did not click on it:
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/116578/article.html
The original dateline from that story was June 2005.
It has been changed since this morning to August 22, 2006.
The dateline for the current page is Tuesday, September 05, 2006 2:15:47 PM. So it has been changed today.
The original post (the one you linked to earlier today) was June 2005, thus the 15 months old statement.
Ask Bob - he had the wrong link this morning.
Here is the link that was in there when you first posted it:
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/105827/article.html
So THAT's where the 15 month statement came from.
Consumers said they would expect to pay $5,250 more for a hybrid than a similar gasoline-only model. The actual premiums for hybrids range from $3,000 to $10,000, Power said.
But those same potential buyers said they expect a hybrid to get 28 more miles per gallon than a gasoline-only car. Hybrid owners have told Power their improvement averages about 9 mpg.
The link for the Straight Line I posted goes to the 5 Sept. 2006 story, and it was NOT edited.
Here was the story as it was linked earlier today:
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/105827/article.html
"Last week, the Edmunds’ analysts reversed their stand on hybrids, saying some of them now make good financial sense. Consumer Reports said it also is looking into updating its analysis, factoring in today’s higher gasoline prices and more recent sales incentives."
So long as gas remains near or above $3.00 gallon more and more will be looking at alternatives.... and the tax credits spur that thinking.
Even though the price of gas has fallen recently, typical for end of Summer, it hasn't in many places, including here in Reno, where it is about $3.05, down from $3.11/09 per gallon a month ago.
I look for an even more extensive tax credit, deduction scheme from Congress soon, or at the very least before the 2008 elections.
In 1990, California legislated the car of the future to be zero-pollution electric. The revealing joke was that it was a good idea if someone also invented a long enough extension cord. It took 600 pounds of batteries for the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline.
California, the bellweather for bad policy.