If fuel prices continue to rise and stay there, we would be silly not to consider more economical vehicles, but at what price?

Em, let me see, is it possible that Fusion hybrid’s sales is, em, in the eyes of Ford, less than ‘satisfactory’?

So, what’s the percentage of inline-4 sales for Ford Explorer last month?

LEAF sold 298 units and Volt sold 608 and thats 900 +.
Meanwhile Prius sold 18,000 + while CT200h sold 2,100 + – superb start.

Lincoln MKZ Hybrid reached a record 615

Also 37 % of Ford F-150 sales is V6, which means the V8 is going away.

Also Altima has overthrown Camry in Sales. Altima has CVT while Camry has outdated 5-speed tranny. Time for Toyota to rethink.

‘On the Super Bowl telecast, also last month, a Chevrolet commercial showed a group of senior citizens who have difficulty hearing and believing the Cruze’s 42 mpg.

But while Chevrolet and Ford tout their 40-mpg models in advertising, only a small percentage of Cruze, Fiesta and Focus models hit that mark.

Ford’s optional Super Fuel Economy package, SFE for short, is available only with the SE trim. The Cruze Eco requires a manual transmission to reach 42 mpg on the highway. All of the 40-mpg or better Chevrolets and Fords are expected to be low-volume players.

IHS’ Handler says Chevrolet and Ford “are using that advertising to get people in the door.” [...]

Rich Brusky, new-car sales manager at Heiser Chevrolet, also in West Allis, says buyers don’t care about the fuel economy difference. “The Eco has had quite a bit of interest, but they have been kind of hard to get. People who buy the automatic still get good gas mileage.”

Ford, meanwhile, is touting its 40-mpg versions of the Fiesta and Focus. That’s 2 mpg higher than the regular models with automatic transmission. Most of the 2 mpg increase stems from low-rolling-resistance tires, included in the optional SFE package.

Jim Heutel, president of Sunset Ford in St. Louis, says the 2 mpg increase is unlikely to sway a buyer. His challenge is Fiesta allocation — he needs more cars. He does not have a Fiesta with the SFE package, nor is he sure he wants to order that model.

Heutel says: “When you only get a couple offered to you, which ones do you stock? Which one is going to be the fast turn?
“Would I really rather have the one that gives me two more miles to the gallon than the one that has the brighter color and a few more accessories?” ‘

http://wardsauto.com/testdrive/buick_asks_who_110325/

Buick is going to sell Lacrosse with e-assist (same as Honda Insight’s Partial Hybrid) and it gets 25/37 city/hwy mileage. And it may be priced the same as V6 model. So Buick is replicating what Lincoln did with MKZ. 2nd hybrid model with no price premium. As Hybrids become common, more 40 MPG models with come.

And they are going to apply this system in Regal as well, being a smaller car, that may give even higher mileage.

Remember, earlier all Buick buyers went for V8 engine, now its coming down to V4. Thats a big progress in mileage.