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Toyota Prius

Toyota Camry Hybrid

Honda Civic Hybrid
Hybrid sales reach 140,000+ units for the first five months of 2007

Hybrid vehicles have come a long way in the ten years since the first Toyota Prius was sold in Japan. The United States slowly embraced the vehicles when Honda brought us the Insight in 1999 and when Toyota first brought the Prius to our shores in 2000.

Today, hybrids are becoming commonplace in America and sales continue to grow at a steady pace. Hybrid car sales increased 53 percent from the previous year for the first five months of 2007. A total of 143,700 hybrids were sold during the period compared to 93,945 in 2006.

Not surprisingly, Toyota's Prius dominated the hybrid sales charts. Prius sales jumped 99.6 percent to 76,745 units -- this represented over half of all hybrids sold in the United States. Toyota's Camry Hybrid was a distant second at 20,540 units sold.

Of the ten hybrids listed on the sales chart, half were made by Toyota, representing total sales of 117,154 vehicles.

Although hybrid sales are on the rise, they still represent a relatively small portion of the entire U.S. auto market. For the first five months of 2007, hybrids represented just 2.1 percent of all new vehicles sold.

That being said, there are a number of new hybrids on the way which are sure to boost sales even further including the $100,000 Lexus LS 600h L, Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon Hybrids, Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango Hybrids, Saturn Vue Green Line, Saturn Aura Green Line and the second generation Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

Toyota alone expects to further increase its lead in the production of hybrids and has stated that all of its vehicles will be hybrids by 2020.

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Progress
By mdogs444 on 6/15/2007 9:31:59 AM , Rating: 2
Its nice to see progress with today's consumers - especially that our country as a whole is feeling a bit more comfortable with the new hybrid technology.

I, for one, would not yet be willing to shell out new car money for hybrid technology that still needs further work. Then again, looks grab my attention, therefore i would not be buying any of the hybrids from standpoint. Perhaps a BMW 3 series, a Volvo S40 series, etc in a hybrid would grab my attention.

However, I still fail to see the point behind the $100,000 Lexus Hybrid. If you can afford a $100,000 car, im sure you are not worried about the increasing price of gasoline to $3.00+/gallon.




RE: Progress
By jpcesar on 6/15/2007 9:41:53 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
However, I still fail to see the point behind the $100,000 Lexus Hybrid. If you can afford a $100,000 car, im sure you are not worried about the increasing price of gasoline to $3.00+/gallon.


The point is not the price of gasoline. The point is pollution.


RE: Progress
By mdogs444 on 6/15/2007 9:44:15 AM , Rating: 2
I doubt many people will pay a 40k premium on a car to lower emissions.

Besides, from what i read in yesterday's Hybrid/Battery post, the additional pollution created from the manufacturing process over standard vehicle production is something we should be more concerned with.


RE: Progress
By RjBass on 6/15/2007 10:05:09 AM , Rating: 2
While the bulk of society would not care to spend so much to lower the output of pollution, some upper class hippies who have nothing better to spend their money on would have no problem with it.

The new Lexus Hybrid is like a high end gaming computer. It is being built and sold to a niche market. Lexus knows that only a limited number of these things will actually sell, so the actual number of them being built will most likely be far less then other models in the Lexus line. Just like how Intel only produces so many Core 2 Extremes as opposed to Core 2 E4300's.


RE: Progress
By mushi799 on 6/15/2007 10:20:33 AM , Rating: 3
You're not the target audience, live with it. I doubt any of us here are in line to buy 100k+ cars


RE: Progress
By NoSoftwarePatents on 6/15/2007 10:23:31 PM , Rating: 2
I agree with your first comment, but the second comment is based on a marketing study, which goal is to slam the hybrid concept by using hard-to-verify statements, and a ton of other bullshit.

I'm not buying a hybrid anytime soon, but there is only one "study" which cites that manufacturing costs are an issue-a marketing study, not based on layers and layers of facts, but opinions.

My next car is going to be a Toyota Tacoma or Tundra, but I'm leaning towards the Tacoma at the moment...


RE: Progress
By 9nails on 6/16/2007 2:39:22 AM , Rating: 3
I'm more concerned with the cost of those batteries when they need to be replaced. I feel that you simply defer the energy savings (MPG) into the batteries and that hybrid cars don't actually save you anything. If the batteries cannot be recycled, then the waste is likely worse than what the equal gasoline engine counterpart is producing in emissions. I'm at the opinion that they're a nice car to lease, but not the right car to own.

You can guess that I'm not sold on any of this and will be sticking to my polluting cars for several more years... perhaps waiting to see if Hydrogen (extracted via corn or water, not oil) or fuel cell engines become the true environment saving method of transportation.


RE: Progress
By ATC on 6/16/2007 3:40:06 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I'm more concerned with the cost of those batteries when they need to be replaced.

I was too, but after talking with friends who work for Toyota in Canada they clarified for me that while the Camry Hybrid for example carries a 3-yr warranty bumper to bumper, all Hybrid and Hybrid-related systems (including the batteries) carry an eight year warranty. And, if/when the batteries need replacing the cost is about $3500 (CAD).

Here's the thing, In BC (Canada), you get a total of $3500 in rebates from provincial and federal government for buying the Camry Hybrid, which puts it at the same cost as the lower end Camry while being just about equally equipped as the much more expensive XLE.

It's in such a demand because of that, that there is months waiting list at three local area Toyota dealers.


RE: Progress
By Dulanic on 6/17/2007 9:03:07 PM , Rating: 2
That must be in canada, in the US the battery warranty is 10 years 150k miles.


RE: Progress
By mino on 6/18/2007 4:34:59 AM , Rating: 2
Batteries do not like the cold weather (they do not like the hot one too, but not so much).
Therefore 8y vs. 20y seems reasonable.


RE: Progress
By kmmatney on 6/16/2007 8:43:52 PM , Rating: 3
My In-laws have 2 toyota Priu's. The first was purchased in 2001 and the second in 2005. The first model needed to go back for warranty repair twice for things unrelated to the batteries, but otherwise has been running fine, as has the second Prius. So I know that batteries can potentially last 6 years. The computer system in the Prius specifially regulates how the batteries are charged and drained to extend their working life. I've driven both of their cars and the newer one is nicer to drive and gets better MPG. The old car has about 120K miles on it.

While I will probably not be buying one soon, I don't think there is need for concern regarding the batteries. My in-laws also received quite a few rebates on the cars, making them not much more expensive that a standard car.


RE: Progress
By Samus on 6/16/2007 11:50:10 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, people wont pay that, unless they have too. Hence, Toyota is not going to make non-hybrid cars, and people will have no choice but to buy a greener car for more money if they want Toyota reliability and so on. Eventually I see most auto manufacturers making nothing but Hybrids in the next few years.

It makes sense from all perspectives, because Hybrid technology can be used for performance or fuel economy.


RE: Progress
By euclidean on 6/15/2007 11:39:47 AM , Rating: 2
Also, you can buy a Civic Hybrid brand new base price for 24K....I really don't think that's expensive at all for a car, especially for a hybrid.


RE: Progress
By Souka on 6/15/2007 11:59:42 AM , Rating: 3
$3-5k premium to get a few more MPG...

$3-5k up front, for many means a larger loan and higher intrest costs.

$3-5k that could be invested elsewhere....

Gambling $3-5k on that you're gonna keep the car for more than 5-7 years to recoup the cost in gas savings...

Really you're paying $3-5k for "status"... Reducing emissions? Well, at the tailpipe maybe, but the carbon-footprint of a hybrid from "cradle-to-grave" is higher than a non-hybrid.

My $.02...


RE: Progress
By michael2k on 6/15/2007 12:13:07 PM , Rating: 2
I already get 28mpg in my car and spend roughly $900 a year on gas. If I had a hybrid and boosted my mileage to 40mpg, I would be spending $600 a year on gas. If I keep my car for ten years, that $3k difference is erased.

However, that is just my situation. People more commonly pay extra for:
1) Leather
2) CD players
3) Moonroof/Sunroof
4) Body trim
5) 60HP
6) Alloy wheels

In light of that, what is $3k for a 40% boost in mileage? There's no "recoup" in spending when you purchase luxuries; think of extra MPG as a luxury okay?

Then there is emissions: The batteries in a hybrid are recycled. Are you saying that the carbon footprint is higher because the engine is smaller and the alternator is larger? Or because you THINK it's higher?


RE: Progress
By Ringold on 6/15/2007 4:02:16 PM , Rating: 2
Of course, that extra $3k also compounds interest over the life of the car loan, offsetting some fuel savings, or about $450 in extra interest with a 48 month loan @ a generous 7%.

Assuming, that is, you get a loan. If not, then if you keep that 10-year pay-back period, the same $3k stuck away in a 10-year bond would be worth $4980, or let loose on the stock market could reasonably end up making that 3k worth 6500 to 9300 depending on the market over the same time period.

Really going to save 10k over 10 years? Really going to keep said vehicle 10 years? Neh. It's a fashion statement still, not much more. If fuel efficiency is the goal, a used Civic or the likes makes not only more sense in terms of consuming resources (buying a used car is sort of like recycling 100% of a product, no?) but financial sense as well.


RE: Progress
By fxnick on 6/15/07, Rating: 0
RE: Progress
By HVAC on 6/15/2007 12:31:01 PM , Rating: 2
Carbon Footprint.....my ass.

It doesn't matter if the carbon footprint of a hybrid is larger. The bigger issue is control of the emissions. It is more technically (not politically) efficient to control power plant (smokestack) emissions than to try to control tailpipe emissions.


RE: Progress
By blaster5k on 6/15/2007 2:24:43 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, but then you're relying on batteries and there are efficiency loses associated with them. Not to mention the weight, which makes it difficult to get good range without compromising the efficiency there -- and charging time.

I suppose fuel cells indirectly allow for power plant level control over emissions if you're producing hydrogen via electricity though. The technology needs to evolve a bit more to really shift the burden to power plants. And we'd need to build more nuclear plants to actually reduce emissions there.