Japanese hybrid sales high led by prius

Gee - Japan buys tons of hybrids . . . I wonder why . . . . .

Gas prices in Tokyo - ritsuki.

And yet our U.S. land barge crybabys can't take it when they have to throw down $120 to pump each week ... what do you want a bet the U.S. will get high ratios of hybrids once we start paying just $5 a gallon and more. It's just a matter of time. New oil field discoveries have decreased for the past half century ... yet people get all excited when even ONE new field discovery takes place ... as though that's going to make some kind of huge dent, as many of the 70 year old fields dry up, and demand continues to increase. Are we missing the boat? or what.

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Well, you also have to remember, the per square foot in Japan is literally expensive over in Japan. Let me put up two pictures for you here:


So this is a 'close' land comparison... You will note, the US, just those 9 out of 50 states is more square foot than Japan.

Japan's real estate is crazy expensive in the cities, and car ownership, especially in the city, requires that you have an actual place to park your car in order to own a car, I believe. While you see pictures of cars and such in Japan as well as highways and them having open space, don't forget even on that map size we don't nearly occupy as much land, but also, Japan has mountainous terrain and their own agriculture to help sustain their population.

 

it is not just hybrid cars that get the cuts, most of new cars do... very similar to cash for clunkers program.

but i think price cut is smaller, maybe they used Leaf which costs more, but i think for Prius gets something like 1.1k in tax cuts (it is one of the 10 toyota cars that get 100% cuts, and 20 others get 75%).

 

you can see the list of toyota cars for the tax cuts here:
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In general the Japanese incentives seem to be more sensible: moderate $$ and more evenly spread to hybrids and EV. When USA had the hybrid credit, it was crafted to make sure not too many credits went to Prius owners. Now you could argue in USA it would be better to give some credit to hybrids instead of just mega-credits to EV's.

 

did you even follow the link i posted? tax cut is not only for hybrids, and no, it is not that much. It depends on the price of the car itself (tax is % based - 5%, so it is 5% off). With Prius it is 110,000 yen and with Aqua it is actually less - 90,000 yen. I think they quoted Leaf price, which is probably a lot more expensive than Prius.

Non Hybrids like Corolla, Yaris, iQ (21 Toyota in total) get 75% reduction in tax, so difference between tax cut in Corolla and Prius are $300.

But people chose Prius and other hybrids because of expensive gas prices and the very fact that Prius is the most popular car sold in Japan, even without incentives.

So in reality if we analyze Japanese sales, hybrids did not get specific boost from the incentives... incentives were made to stimulate all cars and all manufacturers.

Main reason hybrids are at the front is that gas is $7-$7.5/gallon in Japan.
And I bet if it was same in USA, then monthly sales top 10 list would look very different.

To summarize - demand for hybrids can most efficiently be created by increasing gas prices

 

Europe:
Less driving.
Lower incomes.
Drive stick.
Smaller engines.
Cheaper diesels.

When I mentioned my Prius to my dad (UK) his reaction was "It's not worth it here". He drives a Nissan subcompact with a 1.2L engine.

But we'll see how the Yaris Hybrid does. It's the same price as a Polo BlueMotion.

 

also higher taxes and higher prices of cars leading to Prius being expensive car... Yaris could be a game changer, it will probably increase Toyota Hybrid sales by 50% in Europe next year, to a better 120k/year, probably even more.

Main problem in Europe is that Toyota is not big player there...

 

If you look at percentages, Toyota sold 10% Hybrids in Europe last year, actually more than in US, right? Or at least equal. Difference in numbers is just the difference in standing of Toyota in US and in Europe.

To sell more hybrids, Yaris will help, Prius+ will help, but also Rav4 and Avensis will help. With Rav4 launching next year, they could sell 150k hybrids in 2013, in Europe. Which are good numbers.

 

I really think that Japanese cars are the best to gives the good average.
Hybrids car help the environment by using less fuel.Since an electric car runs off a battery charged from electricity rather than fuel from an internal combustion engine, it produces far less pollution than a conventional car as electric plants can more efficiently produce energy than internal combustion engines..
May be that is the reason,Japanese cars sale led high.........

 

Totally agree with you on that. The current US plugin tax credit encourages the development of battery "tanks". The bigger the battery, the more incentive it'll get, regardless of emission, efficiency or total gallons displaced.

We'll have Coda EV rated 73 MPGe getting $7,500 while 95 MPGe Prius PHV getting $2,500. Fisker Karma with 20 MPG gas engine also getting $7,500 while Prius PHV with 50 MPG gas engine getting $2,500.

 

America:
Excessive driving
Easy credit
Can't drive stick
Engines never big enough
Diesel too dirty/smelly but Cummins/Duramax/Powerstroke are okay because they are big

My sense is that the average European abhors a CVT.

 

i dont know who are you responding to as i never mention pollution caused by diesel fumes. I dont think i ever mentioned that on Priuschat, it might be someone else?

However now that you mentioned it, it is definitively reason more people will buy hybrids in the future, as now in Germany and some other countries, you cant enter the city center anymore with a diesel and you can with clean hybrids .

But it is not something i would mention as I live in Eastern Europe, and here they will probably tax the hybrids MORE because they spend less fuel. Seriously.