Hybrid car sales go from 60 to 0 at breakneck speed

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The gas-electric vehicles are piling up on dealers' lots as anxiety over gasoline prices evaporates. But more hybrid models are on the way.

The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry's multibillion-dollar bailout.

Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days.

Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types as the economy continues its slide. But the slowdown has been particularly brutal for hybrids, which use electricity and gasoline as power sources. They were the industry's darling just last summer, but sales have collapsed as consumers refuse to pay a premium for a fuel-efficient vehicle now that the average price of a gallon of gasoline nationally has slipped below $2.

"When gas prices came down, the priority of buying a hybrid fell off quite quickly," said Wes Brown, a partner at Los Angeles-based market research firm Iceology. "Yet even as consumer interest declined, the manufacturers have continued to pump them out."

Last month, only 15,144 hybrids sold nationwide, down almost two-thirds from April, when the segment's sales peaked and gas averaged $3.57 a gallon. That's far larger than the drop in industry sales for the period and scarcely a better showing than January, when hybrid sales were at their lowest since early 2005.

In July, U.S. Toyota dealers didn't have enough Prius models in stock to last two days, and many were charging thousands of dollars above sticker price for the few they had.

Today there are about 80 days' worth on hand, and dealers are working much harder -- even with the help of $500 factory rebates -- to move the egg-shaped gas-savers off lots from Santa Monica to Miami.

This month, Honda is offering $2,000 in cash, financing and leasing incentives to buyers of the formerly sold-out Civic hybrid, while a dealer in northern Michigan is dangling $6,000 cash back to those willing to buy a hulking Chevy Tahoe hybrid.

Yet automakers believe they have little choice but to make more hybrids. Though car buyers are losing interest, politicians are pushing them as key to reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and limiting the global-warming gases that cars emit into the atmosphere.

In January, President Obama called on the industry to "thrive by building the cars of tomorrow" and prepare for federal and state regulations that could push average fuel economy above 40 miles per gallon by 2020.

"The automakers are in the situation of needing to pacify politicians that are in the position to bail them out with expensive fuel-efficient cars," said Rebecca Lindland, auto analyst with IHS Global Insight. "But shouldn't it be more about satisfying the needs of the American consumer?"

(more)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hybr...0,6682265.story

[Reba 2]

I would love to buy a hybrid. If someone could guarantee me a job for the next 3 or 4 years so I've got money to pay for it!

No way could I afford a car loan on my paltry wages right now, and considering we were all informed just yesterday that yes, the company is "in dire straights" right now, no way are we making any purchase that requires a several year loan!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I would love to buy a hybrid. If someone could guarantee me a job for the next 3 or 4 years so I've got money to pay for it!

No way could I afford a car loan on my paltry wages right now, and considering we were all informed just yesterday that yes, the company is "in dire straights" right now, no way are we making any purchase that requires a several year loan!

Same here. With the economy in the tank and gas relatively cheap, hybrids won't survive without some tax rebates to encourage buyers.

[fozzie 41]

Its not that the american consumer doesn't want them just that they are too expensive right now.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Its not that the american consumer doesn't want them just that they are too expensive right now.

I think it comes down to value rather than just a sticker price. People are still buying the larger, more expensive cars like the SUV's because for whatever reason, they equate those vehicles to be of good value.

.....

Also, here's a story from 2003 that helps shed light on why people were buying a lot of SUV's. The Fed manipulating the market...imagine that.

Bush plan gives huge tax break to buyers of big SUVs

By David Kiley, USA TODAY DETROIT — Buying big, luxurious sport-utility vehicles could cost a lot less under the Bush administration's economic stimulus proposal, even though a Bush appointee blasted SUVs last week as dangerous fuel hogs. Small businesses and the self-employed could deduct the entire cost, up to $75,000, from business income the year of the purchase. Normally it would be written off over several years, using a depreciation schedule. Deducting the entire cost in one year considerably reduces that year's taxable income, and income taxes. In some cases, it could result in paying no federal income tax.

A similar deduction in the current tax code is limited to $25,000. Tripling that creates a much more alluring incentive at a time when SUVs are under fire for fuel consumption and safety concerns.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-01-20-suvs_x.htm

[dalegg 143]

Its not that the american consumer doesn't want them just that they are too expensive right now.

I don't want one.

[Ken y Leidys 20]

I would love to buy the upcoming Jeep Wrangler JK Unlimited Hybrid, but with a K-1 getting ready to be filed, I have to save my pennies and drive my old junker.jeje

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

sales of gas-guzzling SUVs are down too, along with almost every other class of vehicle

[Ken y Leidys 20]

sales of gas-guzzling SUVs are down too, along with almost every other class of vehicle

If the big rig hit me like it almost did this morning on my way to work, this is what I'd be rolling in with the insurance $$ I'd have gotten...

...it would make a good "Family Car" too. jejeje

[spookyturtle 9,465]

I would love to buy a hybrid. If someone could guarantee me a job for the next 3 or 4 years so I've got money to pay for it!

No way could I afford a car loan on my paltry wages right now, and considering we were all informed just yesterday that yes, the company is "in dire straights" right now, no way are we making any purchase that requires a several year loan!

Same here. With the economy in the tank and gas relatively cheap, hybrids won't survive without some tax rebates to encourage buyers.

If we don't learn our lesson this time, shame on us, three strikes and your're out. We had two oil crises in the 70's and didn't learn anything, we had gas at $4+ last year and now that it's cheap and everyone is uneployed, let's go back to our old ways. Gas will be back to $4 again, much too soon.

[EasyRider 3]

Its not that the american consumer doesn't want them just that they are too expensive right now.

Not to mention that American car makers don't make a reliable hybrid yet. Is it too much to ask?

[Reba 2]

when you can get a hybrid for $28,000 that gets what, 45 mpg (tops) or you can get the "regular" equivalent for more than $10K less, that gets 35 mpg, IMO, it's a no brainer really. Especially in this economy. That extra 10 mpg doesn't make up for the extra $10k on the sticker price. Not yet anyway. And not even when gas was up to $4 per gallon.

I would loooooooooove to have a more efficient vehicle, for environmental reasons first, and economical reasons second. But right now, it's really just not a smart thing to do.

[NickD 202]

Hybrids are useless in both sub-zero weather and even worse if not driven like a hybrid that translates to taking your foot off the gas well before a stop or traffic light so you can recover a small part of that energy. Small because of inefficiencies in converting mechanical to electrical to chemical energy, three conversion processes.

Impossible to drive a hybrid in city traffic where that is where they claim they are best at, still have to slam on your brakes when coming to a stop signal, and have to jam on the gas pedal when taking off or you will have a zillion people giving you the finger and blowing their horns at you. Prius uses another trick to gain better fuel economy besides variable valve timing that would work in all vehicles, super thin high pressure tires, that would help any vehicle for economy, but can be a death situation if driving on a slippery road. And with those thin tires and if the battery is fully charged by some accident, very easy to burn rubber on take off.

While the EPA more closely simulated actual driving conditions, they dropped the estimated city fuel economy by ten mpg, 25 mpg would be more accurate under real driving conditions. It's actual key to better fuel economy is it's small size, but would be even better if that motor generator, electronics, and battery pack would be removed, and you would have space of a extra couple of bags of groceries.

Hybrids are BS that just added a lot of extra ####### that can go wrong, and go wrong is the name of the game for maintenance cost.

More BS is cutting the speed of the interstates where fuel economy is the greatest and where 90% of the driving is done in congested city traffic. Nothing like living in a country with endless BS by leaders that got there with the best line of BS.

[Caladan 19]

I would love to buy a hybrid. If someone could guarantee me a job for the next 3 or 4 years so I've got money to pay for it!

No way could I afford a car loan on my paltry wages right now, and considering we were all informed just yesterday that yes, the company is "in dire straights" right now, no way are we making any purchase that requires a several year loan!

Same here. With the economy in the tank and gas relatively cheap, hybrids won't survive without some tax rebates to encourage buyers.

Hybrids are still popular here; I'd be curious to see whether hybrids are doing all that much worse than the regular auto market, which is also tanking.

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

when you can get a hybrid for $28,000 that gets what, 45 mpg (tops) or you can get the "regular" equivalent for more than $10K less, that gets 35 mpg, IMO, it's a no brainer really. Especially in this economy. That extra 10 mpg doesn't make up for the extra $10k on the sticker price. Not yet anyway. And not even when gas was up to $4 per gallon.

I would loooooooooove to have a more efficient vehicle, for environmental reasons first, and economical reasons second. But right now, it's really just not a smart thing to do.

there is a car that gets about 45 or so, and is cheap