Polls show outlook for hybrid sales iffy? C'mon Roland
The Commodore 64 didn't tempt many consumers - personal computers were still too much of an emerging technologyYesterday I came across a poll a by Cargurus.com of 500 visitors to their automotive site which suggested that most consumers were still not interested in hybrid cars. As I read through the press release I noticed quotes from Tesla board members - also Cargurus.com board members - explaining that hybrids make little sense. Rather, a Tesla board member claimed, electric cars were a far better option. No conflict of interest there!
Please. I would love an electric vehicle. If I could afford Tesla's $100,000 Roadster, I would buy it today. Yet, the Roadster still has yet to hit the road for any consumers. And it costs $100,000!
Nonetheless, Roland Jones of MSNBC took this highly objective poll to claim that maybe hybrid vehicle sales have no future, a common thread in much of Roland's hybrid writing.
Yet, if Toyota offers the third generation Prius at the same costs as today's Prius, but with a significant increase in fuel efficiency, then nothing will stop the hybrid revolution - and that is less than 2 years away. Until then, hybrids still are an emerging technology, and anybody whom studies the sales patterns of emerging technologies wouldn't find any surprise in a poll that shows a majority of consumers are still "iffy" about buying a hybrid vehicle.
Labels: hybrid vehicle sales, Hybrid Vehicles, prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:54 AM
2 Comments:
I remember when Toyota was first introducing the Prius and my mechanic friend said no way those things catch on. It takes time for things to change. I have read in the past that when gas hits $3.75/gal, we will see things change much quicker.
The only thing that scares me about that $3.75 number is that not much more than a year ago, the gas price threshold was $3.00 per gallon. How quickly we are adapting to higher priced gasoline?
Its like smoking. No matter how high prices go on the cost of a pack of smokes, smokers keep smoking. Of course they are physically addicted to smoking, so it's not surprising smokers continue to justify the cost of a pack.
We're not physically addicted to gasoline, yet we seem almost as addicted. Man, we've been trained well - what a fine little flock of sheep we've become in the Iron Triangle economy in which we live.
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