Comments on: Polk Study Says Hybrid Loyalty Is At 35 Percent

By: Scott Z

Scott Z — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:12:36 +0000

Well duh. I purchased a prius in 05 as our main commuter car. Then we needed a new second car. Oh how I prayed to the car gods for a hybrid mini-van. Like all gods they did not listen. So I purchased a normal mini-van.

Our Prius is going strong with 90k miles and still get 47-51 MPG so you bet I will get another one.

The main issue Hybrids have is simply options. If I wanted a slightly larger Prius I had no options until very recently and of course there is still no hybrid mini-van to be found.

By: fireworks

fireworks — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:03:23 +0000

35%? That’s big enough. Some of friends also have this brand.

By: c_harnett

c_harnett — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:45:06 +0000

The Polk study leaves us with more questions than answers. It refers to hybrid buyers returning to the market. Why are they returning? Are they getting rid of their current hybrid in favor of something else? Or are they buying an additional car?

And this HybridCars article, regurgitating part of the Polk article, doesn't do us any favors. Some additional research or even a little web surfing would be nice. A recent Car & Driver review of the Prius C included this observation:

"Not surprisingly, Toyota didn’t contact us during development of the C. According to the company, the Prius has the highest owner loyalty—meaning people who buy one typically buy another—of any mid-size car (as categorized by the EPA)."

Stats about hybrid retention would be bi-modal. There's the Prius, with exceptional customer retention, and then there's everything else. This article doesn't bring that out.

By: Dan Peed

Dan Peed — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:18:59 +0000

I own a 2002 1st gen. Prius and still get 43 m.p.g. in city traffic. The car runs great and has saved me a large amount of $$$ for more than 10 years.

By: Capt. Concernicus

Capt. Concernicus — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:58:37 +0000

I own a 2nd gen Prius and I fully intend to buy another one after this one. I make fewer stops to the gas station and when I have to fill up I have yet to spend more than $40 in gas. Do I hate high gas prices? Yes, just as much as the next person, but the high MPG's the Prius returns helps insulate me from the spikes in gas prices. I bought my Prius when gas prices were low and Prius wasn't in big demand. I'm glad I bought when I did.

Now with more hybrid choices from Toyota and other automakers people can start looking at used models that are 1 or 2 years old.