Sales trend: Sept to Current, 2012

Ok, Prius v is Prius Alpha.

 

Prius liftback sales of 10k per month give or take a couple are cool and all, but in its current form, it won't challenge the top selling Accords, Camrys and Fusions out there. Not even at $5 gas. Why? ....

Great on gas, but it costs more than Camry and Accord and is quite a bit down on power with a noisier cabin. Maybe it will never be as quiet as a sedan because it is a hatchback, don't know. Too many hard plastics, rock hard armrests. Interior not all that inviting and definitely not sexy.

I like it but don't love it. I like this guy's video review from kbb.com Keeps it pretty real -

2012 Toyota Prius Video Review - Kelley Blue Book - YouTube

 

Riding my bike around neighborhood, saw a neighbor with brand new Focus Electric parked in driveway. He was sweeping the garage and seemed friendly, so I stopped to chat. He loves it. Says it's great in the city.

Tell ya what, it's much better looking than a Leaf. He popped the hatch, and, well, it's pretty small, no, make that really small cargo room. But, it works for him and he likes it. No worries. He said it's fun to drive also.

 

Aside from cost and a few quirks, I think the Tesla Model S is the most remarkable car on the planet to date. Supercar performance, tons of cargo space, can seat 5 adults and 2 small ones. Looks great. Let's hope owners see things the same way after 100k miles on theirs.

 

How the Top Automakers Stack Up - Episode 1079 - YouTube

World 2012 – The 20 biggest car markets! Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog » World 2012 – The 20 biggest car markets: Thailand shoots up!

Why Toyota Camry's Korea Car of the Year win is a big-time upset

 

Chevy sold 1,626 Volts in Feb '13

Nissan sold 653 Leafs in Feb

Just announced on plugincars.com
Volt keeps chugging along. I see them from time to time around here.

 

This is also less than half the plug-ins ins sold in Feb. I expect more than 2500 others mainly from the tesla S, prius phv, and c-max energy in that order for sales. March should be a much better month for the leaf as more US made leafs get to dealers, and the dealers are able to discount.

 

Any news on Feb'13 PHV sales yet?

 

February 2013 U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings - Top 251 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - Every Vehicle Ranked - GOOD CAR BAD CAR

only 693 PiPs sold Feb '13 in US. Volt beat it by almost 1K. What's up with PiP?

Stupid chart above seems to have missed the Volt.

 

Someone connected to the dealership net may give a straight answer to that?
Low sales or low delivery?

 

We at least get the prius numbers from cycledrum's link

#9 Toyota Prius Family 17,812, -13.5% from a year ago

Prius Liftback 11,428
Prius C 3,148
Prius V 2,543
Prius Plug-In 698

c-max (energi + hybrid) 3,183

​

 

February 2013 Hybrid Dashboard

February 2013 Dashboard - HybridCars.com

 

Good looking out sergiospl !

4,147 Camry Hybrids sold Feb '13 , 10.3% US hybrid share.

wow, 3,806 Fusion hybs. I guess people can't resist the look. It's a great looking car.

Volt stays on top with Tesla close 2nd. Very interesting.

Prius liftback sales down compared to last year. More competition now.

 

On Camry and Fusion hybrid take rate, this is excellent for both. Mid sized sedans are the biggest car segment in the US market, and these hybrids may be moving people from malibus, altimas, and accords. Even though ford's mpg looks much lower than claimed, both car and driver and consumer reports reported the fusion hybrid gets slightly better mpg than the camry hybrid. YMMV. Both seem like much better and more efficient cars than the last generation camry hybrid, making the around $4k hybrid premium seem quite affordable.

The liftback has a lot more competition this year than last. The prius c, c-max, and improved fusion hybrid were not around last year. The camry hybrid also was in short supply last year for this month. I would expect prius family sales to be higher this year than last, but mainly do to the strength of the prius c, which is really a different platform.

 

Camry hybrid LE is $3,460 more than non hyb LE. Cam Hy is beating Fu Hy by 1 mpg or so on fuelly. I was impressed because Cam Hy drives so much like a normal midsize sedan, more HP than non hybrid Camry. It eats local freeways for lunch and I'll bet is no slouch in mountains either.

 

Hey to me $3460+tax is around $4000. I just wanted throw out the ballpark number for both midsized psd hybrids.

For that extra money you get more horsepower, and no idling noise when stopped, but give up a little trunk space. For many that would be worth extra money even without the improved mpg.

I fully expect that more buy the camry hybrid because more buy camries than fusions. YMMV, but I don't think the hybrid differences will sway anyone that wants a camry to a fusion hybrid or vica versa. Its about converting camry and fusion sales to hybrid sales.

Now both are trying to get hybrid mid size sales from other car makers, and here the differences boil down to this

Fusion Advantages -
American car company
Better Looks
Better handling - your opinion may vary

Camry Advantages
Less Expensive
Better Acceleration
Made in the USA versus Mexico for Fusion

If you just judged the cars by numbers instead of looks/dash the camry would easily win. Many will want to own what I consider the prettier car though. Both are excellent midsized hybrids and I hope the next generation pushes the hybrid to 40% market share.

 

Interesting .....

Prius liftback, Prius v and CT200h are all down 17% to 24% in sales from last year Feb to date.

All three have the 1.8L HSD drivetrain.

Camry, Fusion, C-Max are all up in sales.

Are people giving up a few MPGs for some more power?

What gas engine do you predict for the 4th Gen? Do they have a 2.0L to draw from? Any other tricks Toyota using to increase power and efficiency?

 

Toyota ZR engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2ZR-FXE is a 1.8l, but there is a 3ZR 2.0 using the same block, and it features a variant using variable cam timing and lift on both cams, as well as a flex fuel version.

The 2.5 l 2AR-FXE is made in the US, we could hope for a smaller 3AR-FXE as well.
Toyota AR engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

People are giving up less mpg for power than they had to when I was shopping for cars.

The tricks Toyota has talked about being possible for gen IV for better power and handling are di, lower drag, lower weight, and lower rolling resistance. A version of the 2.5L comes out this year with a boost of peak efficiency to 38.5% and this should come with more power too. We don't know if Toyota is going to add di, longer stroke, etc to the 1.8L ice but that will add more cost but give you higher efficiency and power. These should be small changes though. IMHO the prius accelerates fine off the line but doesn't do well when called upon at higher speeds. That lag feeling could get fixed with a change in electronics.