Making the hybrid segment more Fit
Cheaper and cheaper hybrids, finally
Cheaper hybrid cars coming soon
Do hybrid cars save enough gas to pay for their extra costs compared to conventional vehicles? That depends upon a lot of different variables, as well as the source. Nevertheless hybrids are set to become cheaper with the upcoming launch of the Honda Fit hybrid, and that’s good news for hybrid fans.
According to GreenCarCongress, the new Honda Fit hybrid will be priced at $18,600 in Japan when it goes on sale in October, making it the cheapest hybrid available.
With a serious decline in Honda hybrid sales already underway, a cheaper hybrid should be good news for Honda. Likewise, early word out of Japan is that the new Fit will not be plagued by the suspension and quality issues already affecting Insight hybrid sales.
Unfortunately for Honda, however, Toyota has a new hybrid compact of its own planned to quickly follow the launch of the Fit hybrid, and Toyota’s new hybrid could end up not only a few hundred bucks less than the Fit hybrid, but also a good bit more fuel efficient than the Fit.
Slowly but surely the hybrid competition is heating up, and cheaper hybrids should entice more consumers to check out the hybrid segment, and that could stem the ongoing decline in overall US hybrid sales. Even better, if consumers can close the price gap between these new hybrids and their conventional counterparts (at least relatively), an extra couple percent market share might be just around the corner.
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My understanding is that the profit margins are very low without the add-ons. It’s the add-ons that enable automakers to make money off efficient vehicles.
To me, this is the major crux of the problem with the US auto industry. Unfortunately, to a large extent, US auto industry profits are derived from inefficiency – inefficiency that has been bred into the US auto consumer for many decades. This just isn’t going to be an easy nut to crack. Somehow, it seems to me, US automakers are going to have to think far outside of the box if long term US profitability is going to be achieved.
Sadly, despite the recession and bankruptcy, US automakers are still mostly just knuckledraggers.
These manufacturers wouldn’t have to shift the size of the vehicles from standard to companct, in order to claim a “cheaper” vehicle, if they only stopped adding on the ridiculous extras to jack up the price. A car does not need leather seats and iPod holders and other such crap in order to function.
Offer a bare-bones version of the vehicle at it’s actual price and then ala carte the “cute” stuff at their respective prices for whomever wants them.
Hell, this could be a whole new angle on the industry – Boutique Hybrid/EV vehicles.