April 23, 2006
Pius and the Market
There's only one answer to this problem ya know...
- The fact is, hybrids just aren't selling like they used to. While the Toyota Prius is still a hot item, Ford is offering incentives on its hybrid SUVs, and sales for other hybrid vehicles are softening.
One reason is that most hybrids, unlike the Prius, are not distinctive. A Toyota Highlander Hybrid looks like a Toyota Highlander. A Ford Escape Hybrid is a Ford Escape. "So the hybrid becomes another powertrain option," said Anthony Pratt, an analyst with J.D. Power and Associates.
That means that consumers are increasingly putting hybrid systems through the same cost/benefit analysis to which they would subject any other high-cost option.
With those same looking cars costing $3,500 to $8,000 more, what's the point of buying one? Especially if it takes years to break even on it.
But there is another option.
- Another answer might be to buy a vehicle with a less complex, less expensive hybrid system. It might not be quite as fuel-efficient but it will pay for itself faster.
The Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid SUV, coming out this summer, will cost about $2,000 more than a regular Saturn Vue. It's sticker price will be about $23,000, making it the cheapest hybrid SUV you can buy.
Really the correct solution to this problem would be for the federal government to subsidize the purchase of a hybrid to the tune of the price difference between a hybrid and a regular version. I mean, when it comes to the environment, there's no problem the government couldn't solve, and no dollar amount too much.
I still say that the picture you posted is the reason that sales are slow. Not that South Park punctured sales. But the folks who wanted to be seen in a hybrid have already bought them. South Park helped stop it from going mainstream (from metastasizing in healthy tissue).
Posted by: jk at April 23, 2006 5:21 PM | What do you think? [1]