Slow hybrid sales push Ford incentives

Ford's hybrid slump isn't a surprise

So far this year Ford has sold about 1000 hybrid vehicles, as sales for both the Ford Escape hybrid and the Mercury Mariner hybrid have slowed. Ironically, as Ford has increased hybrid marketing, sales have simply not kept pace and this has resulted in incentives as high as $1000.00 for Ford's hybrids (more).

Why?

I remember my first Escape hybrid test drive, which left me very unimpressed. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate the vehicle - I did - I just thought the cost was simply far too expensive.

I felt the same away about the Toyota Highlander hybrid, which I also love, but the price difference between the Highlander hybrid and a conventional Highlander, is the definition of sticker shock.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't buy either of these vehicles, I would, if I had to drive SUVs, but I'm not an SUV driver. This highlights the main problem of hybrid SUVs: Who are the customers?

Fans of hybrids are driven mostly by two factors: the environment and foreign oil dependency. Most, but not all, of this customer segment is not interested in hybrid SUVs (I'm not saying hybrid SUV drivers aren't just as committed!!). While there are many others that are concerned about these same issues, they are not driven by these causes, and these people are inevitably going to be driven by cost when it comes to buying a hybrid versus a conventional vehicle.

Many of these hybrid buyers will buy a Prius without thinking about it because there isn't a conventional comparison -I don't buy the Corolla comparison. Every other hybrid, other than the Honda Insight, forces this compare and contrast mentality.

Consequently, until hybrid vehicle costs are more competitive, only unique hybrids such as the Toyota Prius will be hot sellers. There could be exceptions, such as the Toyota Camry hybrid, but that won't be the norm until hybrid battery technology advances.

Of course, all of this could change if the 3 ton SUV small business tax deduction were applied to hybrid vehicles. Let's hope the momentum for this in Congress keeps rolling.