xcel
01-01-2007, 05:17 AM
Toyota, Honda vehicles remain popular despite moderating gas prices. (http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/12/25/focus3.html)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Bradlee_Fons_-_Milwaukee_Hybrid_Group.jpgDenise Dorn Lindberg - Business Journal of Milwaukee – Dec. 22, 2006
Bradlee Fons ... “Hybrids are going to be the perfect vehicles to address our dependency on oil and our need to lower emissions.”
This summer's spike in gas prices helped raise strong interest in hybrid vehicles, local dealerships say.
While hybrid sales moderated after gas prices fell below $3 a gallon, increasingly car buyers are using hybrid ownership as a way to express their political views, sellers said. A hybrid is a conspicuous purchase for environmentalists, the technologically savvy, or those who oppose big oil companies and U.S. dependence on foreign oil-producing nations.
"Gas prices definitely dictate car sales and which type of cars people buy," said Carl Cerletty, general sales manager at Saturn of Greenfield. "We were very busy this summer with hybrids and small cars."
Cerletty saw greater interest in hybrid vehicles like the Saturn Vue, powered by a combination of electricity and gasoline. As summer gas prices hit new highs, Cerletty said several people came in each day looking for hybrid vehicles. Now it's down to several people each week.
"When gas is $3, everyone wants to get a hybrid. When gas is $2.25, they seem more interested in driving their SUVs," he said.
Others, like Craig Lucas, general manager of Honda City in Greenfield, did not see the fluctuation caused by high gas prices. His Honda Civic hybrids are scarce and in high demand regardless of the cost of a gallon of gas.
"When gas was $3.59 a gallon, we did not have any in stock," said Lucas, whose dealership receives about six hybrids compared with 40 regular-engine Civics each month. "We still don't have any in stock."
Along with those interested in saving money at the pump, Lucas said he sees an attraction to the hybrids' cutting-edge technology and environment-friendly aspects.
"There are all different segments that are coming into this market," he said. "It's not just (for) gas mileage."
Brian Hansen, general sales manager at Jack Safro Toyota in Brookfield, made a similar observation.
"If you are an environmentally conscious person and you want people to know that, you are going to drive a Prius," he said.
Hansen said his dealership sold 29 Priuses in August and September compared with 50 vehicles in October and November. The dealership is selling as many hybrid Priuses as regular-engine Corollas, and 15 percent of its passenger-car market has been in sales of hybrid Priuses and Camry’s.
He credited the increased sales to Toyota's beefed up production of the Prius, and customers buying the vehicles to reflect their values.
Founded hybrid group
Bradlee Fons of Pewaukee is among the area's enthusiastic hybrid owners, driving a Honda Insight to save money as well as the environment. Fons' wife drives a Toyota Prius, and his 17-year-old son, Justin, drives an Insight.
"Hybrids are going to be the perfect vehicles to address our dependency on oil and our need to lower emissions," said Fons, 57, who bought his Insight in 2003.
Earlier this year, Bradlee and Justin Fons decided to share their enthusiasm with other hybrid owners and founded the Milwaukee Hybrid Group.
Now up to about 140 members, the group meets to share ideas about the vehicles and discuss broader energy issues that impact the economy and environment. In July, Bradlee Fons helped organize Hybridfest in Madison, the largest hybrid car show in America.
Fons said hybrid vehicles are a bridge between gas-powered engines and the future, which he believes will entail hydrogen or fuel-cell technology in 10 to 15 years. He believes the next development will be plug-in vehicles that use lightweight lithium ion batteries that will hold a charge longer than the current nickel metal hydride batteries.
"As global warming comes more to the forefront in America, people are going to be changing what they buy and drive," he said.
Many in the auto industry believe technological innovations will drive greater long-term demand for hybrid vehicles.
Innovation is driver
Don Hansen, president of the Automobile Dealers Association of Mega Milwaukee, sees automakers investing in development of vehicles that are gas efficient and produce low emissions.
"Personally I believe that we're right on the forefront of a real explosion," Hansen said. "And if we get a break-through in batteries, that alone will cause a huge impact on the industry."
Milwaukee Area Technical College science instructor George Stone said Americans have only understood in the last five years what many climatologists concluded decades ago: Consumers must change to ward off effects of global warming. Stone believes Americans are in the early stages of a "third energy revolution" that will not rely on petroleum derivatives such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuel to power vehicles.
Foreign automakers invested earlier in technologies to transition consumers away from fossil fuel dependence because they understood that the world was changing, Stone said. A short-term profit mentality hurt American automakers whose interest was in sticking with what made them money in the past, he said.
"The Japanese manufacturers have not been too timid," Stone said. "Now, of course, Toyota is the world leader in hybrid technology."
Chris Schneider, known as the Hybrid Guru on Wisconsin Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio and president of Honda Motorwerks in La Crosse, specializes in selling pre-owned hybrids. He believes most hybrid owners choose their vehicles for the economics.
"For the majority of hybrid owners, the pocketbook is still speaking the loudest, so fuel efficiency is the primary concern," he said.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Bradlee_Fons_-_Milwaukee_Hybrid_Group.jpgDenise Dorn Lindberg - Business Journal of Milwaukee – Dec. 22, 2006
Bradlee Fons ... “Hybrids are going to be the perfect vehicles to address our dependency on oil and our need to lower emissions.”
This summer's spike in gas prices helped raise strong interest in hybrid vehicles, local dealerships say.
While hybrid sales moderated after gas prices fell below $3 a gallon, increasingly car buyers are using hybrid ownership as a way to express their political views, sellers said. A hybrid is a conspicuous purchase for environmentalists, the technologically savvy, or those who oppose big oil companies and U.S. dependence on foreign oil-producing nations.
"Gas prices definitely dictate car sales and which type of cars people buy," said Carl Cerletty, general sales manager at Saturn of Greenfield. "We were very busy this summer with hybrids and small cars."
Cerletty saw greater interest in hybrid vehicles like the Saturn Vue, powered by a combination of electricity and gasoline. As summer gas prices hit new highs, Cerletty said several people came in each day looking for hybrid vehicles. Now it's down to several people each week.
"When gas is $3, everyone wants to get a hybrid. When gas is $2.25, they seem more interested in driving their SUVs," he said.
Others, like Craig Lucas, general manager of Honda City in Greenfield, did not see the fluctuation caused by high gas prices. His Honda Civic hybrids are scarce and in high demand regardless of the cost of a gallon of gas.
"When gas was $3.59 a gallon, we did not have any in stock," said Lucas, whose dealership receives about six hybrids compared with 40 regular-engine Civics each month. "We still don't have any in stock."
Along with those interested in saving money at the pump, Lucas said he sees an attraction to the hybrids' cutting-edge technology and environment-friendly aspects.
"There are all different segments that are coming into this market," he said. "It's not just (for) gas mileage."
Brian Hansen, general sales manager at Jack Safro Toyota in Brookfield, made a similar observation.
"If you are an environmentally conscious person and you want people to know that, you are going to drive a Prius," he said.
Hansen said his dealership sold 29 Priuses in August and September compared with 50 vehicles in October and November. The dealership is selling as many hybrid Priuses as regular-engine Corollas, and 15 percent of its passenger-car market has been in sales of hybrid Priuses and Camry’s.
He credited the increased sales to Toyota's beefed up production of the Prius, and customers buying the vehicles to reflect their values.
Founded hybrid group
Bradlee Fons of Pewaukee is among the area's enthusiastic hybrid owners, driving a Honda Insight to save money as well as the environment. Fons' wife drives a Toyota Prius, and his 17-year-old son, Justin, drives an Insight.
"Hybrids are going to be the perfect vehicles to address our dependency on oil and our need to lower emissions," said Fons, 57, who bought his Insight in 2003.
Earlier this year, Bradlee and Justin Fons decided to share their enthusiasm with other hybrid owners and founded the Milwaukee Hybrid Group.
Now up to about 140 members, the group meets to share ideas about the vehicles and discuss broader energy issues that impact the economy and environment. In July, Bradlee Fons helped organize Hybridfest in Madison, the largest hybrid car show in America.
Fons said hybrid vehicles are a bridge between gas-powered engines and the future, which he believes will entail hydrogen or fuel-cell technology in 10 to 15 years. He believes the next development will be plug-in vehicles that use lightweight lithium ion batteries that will hold a charge longer than the current nickel metal hydride batteries.
"As global warming comes more to the forefront in America, people are going to be changing what they buy and drive," he said.
Many in the auto industry believe technological innovations will drive greater long-term demand for hybrid vehicles.
Innovation is driver
Don Hansen, president of the Automobile Dealers Association of Mega Milwaukee, sees automakers investing in development of vehicles that are gas efficient and produce low emissions.
"Personally I believe that we're right on the forefront of a real explosion," Hansen said. "And if we get a break-through in batteries, that alone will cause a huge impact on the industry."
Milwaukee Area Technical College science instructor George Stone said Americans have only understood in the last five years what many climatologists concluded decades ago: Consumers must change to ward off effects of global warming. Stone believes Americans are in the early stages of a "third energy revolution" that will not rely on petroleum derivatives such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuel to power vehicles.
Foreign automakers invested earlier in technologies to transition consumers away from fossil fuel dependence because they understood that the world was changing, Stone said. A short-term profit mentality hurt American automakers whose interest was in sticking with what made them money in the past, he said.
"The Japanese manufacturers have not been too timid," Stone said. "Now, of course, Toyota is the world leader in hybrid technology."
Chris Schneider, known as the Hybrid Guru on Wisconsin Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio and president of Honda Motorwerks in La Crosse, specializes in selling pre-owned hybrids. He believes most hybrid owners choose their vehicles for the economics.
"For the majority of hybrid owners, the pocketbook is still speaking the loudest, so fuel efficiency is the primary concern," he said.