Sales of hybrids dipped 2.5% year on year. Prius sales were off 10.9% a total of 10,895 units were sold in feb 2008. The TCH and HiHY and a few other hybrids showed positive gains over last year. Overall car sales were down 6.3% so these results are not very surprising. Shiny Graphic: And, for good measure: Full Article
Hi Tripp, Wait a minute. That red line has a February dot just a little below (Will Tell like) below the blue dot in the top graph, and the purple line in the second graph is above the green line. Is this news regarding hybrids, or the economy ? Most likely its people saving their money for the next gen Prius and various diesels.
IMO the expiration dates on Toyota's credit artificially stimulated demand in 2006 & 2007. Now that the economy has soured I expect to see hybrid sales soften but by a smaller percentage than the industry average until the next gen Prius is introduced. If (when) gas prices jump hybrids may actually post sales gains.
That's correct. See the data in the table. Remember this is total hybrid sales, not just the Prius. Both perhaps. Hybrid sales are off less than total LDV sales, so in some ways the data are encouraging. I kinda doubt it. I bet most people aren't all that up on the gory details of all of the options. The Prius is pretty much a mainstream vehicle now, purchased by mainstream lads and lasses. I doubt many of the potential buyers are aware of what's going on in the PHEV or diesel worlds. They might have heard of plugins, but probably don't really know much about them.
Historically Prius sales have followed the price of gas. Gas is more expensive but nothing like it is going to be. But folks have to be able to buy the car and that takes purchase money, which is tight now. Speculation on my part but we may see Toyota produce more down-scale Prius . . . affordable units. IMHO, this would be a good thing. Bob Wilson
That seems to be the simple explanation. Gas certainly wasn't cheap during that time. The funny thing is that year on year January was a very good year for the Prius.
Granted the economy is going to slow sales of everything, especially big ticket items that might require a loan. But I think we'll still be seeing more Prius sales due to the price of gas continueing to climb. The Gen II has been out since 2004 and nothing major bad, plus real numbers show mpg an acceptable 45 mpg average for most. That's double what most people get. I think this will spur people to really consider whether they absolutely have to have that SUV or whether a Prius can meet their needs.
I hate to suggest this but maybe it is time for a some model changes? electric seats with more room, optional articulating, built-in radiator block optional front air-dam and side skirts remove or move up the 42 mph control law threshold EV button standard built-in, house voltage inverter, option engineering units on MFD display USB data recorder port, driven by configuration file "D" without built-in auto-drag, "Dn" 50 psi tires and soft suspension Bob Wilson
I agree. Hybrid sales dipped, but not nearly as significantly as total LDV sales. If petrol really does pan out to be as expensive as predictions then full sized SUV sales will be quite terrible.
