xcel
02-21-2007, 11:46 PM
And a great time to buy. (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070221/OPINION03/702210320)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Next_Gen_Prius_III.jpgAnn Jobs - Detroit News - Feb. 20, 2007
With so much automotive news out of Detroit, it may not seem like a big deal that Toyota is offering its first incentives on the Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car.
But I bet many Motor City automotive executives are watching the Toyota Prius carefully to see how sales fare.
Here's why: Toyota's regional discounts, which range from 0-percent-interest financing on short, two-year loans to $239-a-month leases in Northern California, come amid changing times for the automaker's first mass-produced hybrid.
Sure, Toyota officials like Senior Vice President Don Esmond of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. downplay concern about Prius when Toyota is pushing for a record 225,000 total hybrid sales in the United States this year.
He said company research shows consumers still are interested in the Prius and its hybrid technology that reduces gasoline use and emissions.
Priuses available now
But this research also shows consumers talk about possibly buying a Prius a year from now, rather than this month or this spring.
After years of tight Prius supplies, Toyota also finds many consumers still think they have to get on waiting lists to buy a Prius -- and will likely have to take whatever Prius is available at the dealership.
(Watch for new Toyota advertising to counter this notion this year.)
Meantime, with tax season upon us, Toyota will be spotlighted as the first automaker whose hybrids, including the Prius, no longer qualify for 100 percent of federal tax credits.
The full tax credits -- worth $3,150 on a new Prius -- already have been grabbed by last year's buyers of Toyota's hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles.
Buyers of new Priuses this year will get tax credits of only $1,575, or $787.50 or nothing, depending on when they buy, because the government tax credits are limited in number and decline over time and sales.
No more carpool stickers
Then there's the problem of Toyota's reliance on California for so many hybrid vehicle sales.
Last year the Golden State accounted for some 40 percent of Toyota's hybrid sales.
And two cities alone -- Los Angeles and San Francisco -- accounted for an estimated 76 percent of all hybrid registrations in the state, according to HybridCars.com.
No wonder.
Hybrid buyers got the perk of driving solo in carpool lanes in California and avoiding congested freeway traffic, which is a major time-saving "feature" for L.A. and San Francisco.
But the stickers allowing hybrids to use carpool lanes were limited to 85,000 vehicles, and the state now says they all have been distributed.
So buyers of new Priuses now must join everyone else in the regular car lanes in California.
Add in the fact the federal government will cut miles-per-gallon estimates on hybrids this year as part of a correction for a faulty mileage formula, and it's easy to see why Toyota officials might think this is a good time to put incentives on the Prius for the first time.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Next_Gen_Prius_III.jpgAnn Jobs - Detroit News - Feb. 20, 2007
With so much automotive news out of Detroit, it may not seem like a big deal that Toyota is offering its first incentives on the Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car.
But I bet many Motor City automotive executives are watching the Toyota Prius carefully to see how sales fare.
Here's why: Toyota's regional discounts, which range from 0-percent-interest financing on short, two-year loans to $239-a-month leases in Northern California, come amid changing times for the automaker's first mass-produced hybrid.
Sure, Toyota officials like Senior Vice President Don Esmond of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. downplay concern about Prius when Toyota is pushing for a record 225,000 total hybrid sales in the United States this year.
He said company research shows consumers still are interested in the Prius and its hybrid technology that reduces gasoline use and emissions.
Priuses available now
But this research also shows consumers talk about possibly buying a Prius a year from now, rather than this month or this spring.
After years of tight Prius supplies, Toyota also finds many consumers still think they have to get on waiting lists to buy a Prius -- and will likely have to take whatever Prius is available at the dealership.
(Watch for new Toyota advertising to counter this notion this year.)
Meantime, with tax season upon us, Toyota will be spotlighted as the first automaker whose hybrids, including the Prius, no longer qualify for 100 percent of federal tax credits.
The full tax credits -- worth $3,150 on a new Prius -- already have been grabbed by last year's buyers of Toyota's hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles.
Buyers of new Priuses this year will get tax credits of only $1,575, or $787.50 or nothing, depending on when they buy, because the government tax credits are limited in number and decline over time and sales.
No more carpool stickers
Then there's the problem of Toyota's reliance on California for so many hybrid vehicle sales.
Last year the Golden State accounted for some 40 percent of Toyota's hybrid sales.
And two cities alone -- Los Angeles and San Francisco -- accounted for an estimated 76 percent of all hybrid registrations in the state, according to HybridCars.com.
No wonder.
Hybrid buyers got the perk of driving solo in carpool lanes in California and avoiding congested freeway traffic, which is a major time-saving "feature" for L.A. and San Francisco.
But the stickers allowing hybrids to use carpool lanes were limited to 85,000 vehicles, and the state now says they all have been distributed.
So buyers of new Priuses now must join everyone else in the regular car lanes in California.
Add in the fact the federal government will cut miles-per-gallon estimates on hybrids this year as part of a correction for a faulty mileage formula, and it's easy to see why Toyota officials might think this is a good time to put incentives on the Prius for the first time.