Comments on: October 2009 Dashboard: Hybrid Sales Regain Momentum

By: nycsolar

nycsolar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:05:18 +0000

How is it that in 2009, only 3% of the cars sold are hybrids. That’s ridiculous. Humanity deserves to go extinct. It’s a complete failure to adapt to changing conditions.

By: Jim Bussell

Jim Bussell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:06:27 +0000

Old man chowder has a point!

By: Max Reid

Max Reid — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:07:52 +0000

There is Full, Partial & Mild hybrids in the market.
For some reason, the Hybrid buyers have settled on Full Hybrid.

Thats why Toyota & Ford with their Full Hybrids remain the Top-2 sellers.
Even for GM, its their Full Hybrids are selling well even though they are big SUV's.

Now to create a real competition to Prius, all it needs is for
Ford or GM to apply their Hybrid powertrain in one of their hatchback and sell it
at an affordable price.

After all when a big sedan like Fusion Hybrid can get 41 MPG, if available in smaller
model will hit 50 MPG.

Then the price of Prius will also come down and the Hybrid sales will skyrocket.

By: Nelson Lu

Nelson Lu — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:22:50 +0000

I've certainly seen a fair amount of Insight (and previously, Civic) hybrid advertisements here in Northern California.

But the problem with Honda's hybrids is similar to the problem with GM's hybrids: they are technologically inferior to Ford's and Toyota's (and Nissan's, although Nissan's volume is very low, and the technology was obviously licensed from Toyota), and given that they don't have any real advantage over Ford and Toyota, why should people buy them? (I realize that there is a price difference, but I don't think the price difference is sufficient.)

By: Robert055

Robert055 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:35:00 +0000

As the economy improves, Americans will continue looking to hybrids for long-term savings. They cost more in the short-term (a few grand more than their non-hybrid counterparts) but the fuel savings and environmental impact are worth it long-term.

By: Old Man Crowder

Old Man Crowder — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:12:27 +0000

I'm with Brian. I've seen a pile of commercials for the Prius but nothing for the Insight. In fact, I think the only advertisements for hybrids that I've seen are for the Prius, Fusion and RX400h.

Doing business without marketing is like winking in the dark. You know you're doing it, but nobody else does.

By: joe bob

joe bob — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:58:53 +0000

Is Toyota going to FINALLY put their supply-chain issues to to bed so they can meet improved market demand? They said they would do this with the 2010 model when they could not meet demand back in 2008-9, but I keep seeing reports they are not able get the kinks worked out???

By: brian raffetto

brian raffetto — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:12:38 +0000

I have a 2007 hchii, and like it more then the Prius, I just like it better, the price was lower and the mileage not that different. I get 45.9 ltmpg. 90% around town driving.

I think that most people, when looking for a Hybrid, rightly or wrongly, think only of the Prius. Maybe it is because of the advertising dollars spent on it?

If more people even knew that Honda sells a hybrid they would sell more. The lack of sells is not because the Honda's are a bad choice of a hybrid, people think only about the Pruis when looking for a hybrid.

My grandfather use to say, "if everyone like vanilla, it would be a strange world to live in"

Just my .02
Brian