Today's local newspaper had an article stating that buying a hybrid may not save money. It went through all the usual things, premium price, driving styles, cost, etc. The telling picture was of a local Toyota dealer standing by a Corolla. He is quoted in the article as trying to tell people it will take them 6 to 7 years to break even buying a Prius and some people listen, some don't, some buy for the environment. The Corolla is comparable and gets good mileage he says. Yeah, and the fact that you don't have any Prius to sell and that you do have Corollas doesn't play into this article at all? I'm tired of the media. There is even a statement that Honda is discontinuing the Insight. I believe discontinued is the word, but obviously the reporter on this article researched nothing. Prius demand soars with gas prices
At the dealership where I signed yesterday, they had NO brochures on Prius. So I sat idly looking around each time the salesperson had to go get forms, approvals, etc. Well, I'm kinda nosey, but it's not ALL on me, he had left this handout sitting on top of a pile on his desk. It seemed to be from a sales team meeting, it was photocopied. Across the top was hand written: We DO sell other cars besides the PRIUS!!!! Get out there and sell them!! The handout had info comparing the Prius with the Corolla, Yaris and . . . um, Matrix? I forget the 3rd one. Compared MPG both city and highway, options and a ton of other stuff. The actual handout was printed, probably from corporate (it didn't seem like an in house item, in other words). When I initially started talking with the salesman, he tried several times to get me to look at / consider another car.
That statement about selling the other cars really shows that the average person has to be on guard and "stick to their guns" when approached by high pressure car salesmen and saleswomen. True, a lot of shoppers want a prius because of its reputation for great mileage, and don't know any more about it's mechanical parts than they know for any other car, but after they get one, and if they do a little studying about it, they will find out what a great piece of engineering it really is. Every time I drive mine those planetary gears and other neat components are going around in my head as I visualize what's going on under the hood (bonnet for you Pat). That may not describe it very well, but you know what I'm talking about.
The underlying theme is not bad... it's true that the demand has gone through the roof because people are emotionally affected by the rising gas prices. The Corolla and the regular Civic are still great cars, and people should really think hard about them before they rush off and get a Prius. If I were buying right now I wouldn't be paying thousands of dollars over MSRP to get one. I'd be happy to get into a Corolla instead. However, it bugs me that there is still just so much misinformation about the Prius - how it operates (using gas vs. using the battery), how much room it has, what it really gets for gas mileage, how much the battery costs and how often it has to be replaced, how safe it is, etc, etc. This is not the case for any other vehicle and I just don't get it. Is it fear of change? Not willing to admit that a Japanese car maker has got it right? A desperate attempt to justify what people have already invested (financially and emotionally) in their SUV, truck, or high performance sports car? Tim
Little by little I'll get you people talking English. Sales people are paid to sell cars, when the Prius was a whole new concept no one bothered to sell the car, most of the sales staff still don't understand how a Prius is different to other cars so it is obvious there was no effort put into selling them. It started with a few corporate buyers seeking a green image and governments doing the same and it grew from there, the sales staff were happy to let you look at a Prius if you wanted to but I doubt they would point many customers toward a Prius. Now they are walking out the door, well rolling silently out the door and still the sales staff are showing there true colours and need to be kicked into actually selling anything else. Maybe dealer principals need to step in and cut the commission paid on a Prius sale and add to the commission paid on other vehicles to get the stock turning over.
