CNBC: Has Interest in Hybrids Run Out of Gas?

I totally agree. This is how the media distorts opinions. Dishonest reporting, leaving out part of the facts, only telling part of the story is so commonplace nowadays. It happens in every facet of journalism (even auto).

Whoever wrote this falls into one of three categories:

1) Doesn't know the difference between hwy and city mpg
2) Is deliberately misrepresenting the facts due to personal bias
3) Stands to profit from skewing this report

We will never know what cat the journalist falls into but I'll bet it has to do with money or personal bias.

40 mpg's hwy doesn't impress me at all, 48+mpg city does.

 

According to Fuelly I have the following costs:

$.077 per mile for Prius (rated 50mpg, lta 45.1mpg)
$.103 per mile for Fiesta (rated 33mpg, lta 33.1mpg)

If I drove the Fiesta for the 55,000 miles I have driven the Prius it would cost $1430 more.

Not earth shattering but not pennies either, also not the same class of car but I figured since the Fiesta is one of those 40mpg hwyers I would chime in the differences.

 

By '40 MPG', he is speaking of ....

Ford Focus .. Ford Focus MPG Reports | Fuelly looks more like 30 MPG to me

Chevy Cruze .. Chevrolet Cruze MPG Reports | Fuelly looks like low 30's which is not bad actually

Hyundai Elantra .. Hyundai Elantra MPG Reports | Fuelly maybe a skosh under 30

.. Prius beats all those in interior room, but, it is more expensive.

2012 Prius just about 50 MPG avg Toyota Prius MPG Reports | Fuelly

 

cnbc seems as bad as most of them. What makes you think they are better. From your link

.

The difference between 2008 and 2012, is that there is higher availability of cars That's why we don't see as many stories about bad dealers ripping people off. Sales of hybrids were higher, not lower than 2008 last month and ytd.

But there are also better other cars available also.

 

There's a dude just down the street, recently bought a 2011 or 12 Focus hatchback, probably not the model that gets ....
'40 mpg HIGHWAY' ...

betchya he's gettin' about 30 avg where I'm at 49.2. Betchya he paid only a couple thousand less than me also.

He gets to hear his auto transmission shift 150 times a day also ... haha

 

Ask him, I'm sure he'll be happy to talk about his new car. He might not want to talk about what he paid unless he got a great deal

If your transmission is shifting that much and it bothers you, you probably need to get a manual The eCvt noises still bother me a little.

 

CNBC can't even get this right and they want me to have confidence in them when they talk about the stock market.

 

Naysayers will usually point to the cost of hybrid, and they are pretty much right. Prius is not cheap for its size.

Just looked a 2012 Hyundai Elantra Touring GLS (base model) preferred pack, ipod, bluetooth, with automatic ... only $19.3k with destination. I'm sure it's missing a few features of Prius Two, but at $5,400 up front cost diff and 26 vs 50 MPG average, takes about 80k miles to make up the diff at $4/gal gas (reg,ins., maintenance diff excluded). They will always use this argument and the argument does hold water.

 

There's some truths in the story. You just have to look at it from a non-Prius Cheerleader point of view.
Yes. The Prius has been the KING of the MPG pile for like....ten years now.
If you're looking for a commuting car, and if you're going to keep for more than a few years, and if you don't dislike liftbacks, and if you don't have to tow anything, and if you're not on a sub-25K budget---then it's the stuff on a stick as far as cars go!

Trouble is.....time marches on.
To me, and it's only my almost outsider looking almost inside opinion, it's been 10 years.
Where's 60-70mpg??? Where's the 2-seat roadster for those who don't want yet another 5-seat, four-door car dotting the landscape?

I personally use the highway EPA guestimate as a benchmark since all three of my current (4 wheeled) vehicles attain that as my combined mileage since I don't live in the city. It’s what I get…almost on the dot.
My CFO got the last new car. I'll have to wait for my next one.
Four years ago....it might have been something like a G3, but I'm thinking that if the MPG delta between Priuses and their alternative ICE vehicles continues to shrink, then money is going to reassert itself as a(nother) factor in my decision.

Bottom line.
Figures don't lie...but liars do figure.
Hybrids...and you've got to remember that this article speaks to all hybrids---The Cadillac Escalade comes as a hybrid. Anyway HYBRID sales are either up flat or down compared to our last “fuel shock”.
If they're down...some of the reasons might include the "fun to drive" factor, but it might also be a statistical anomaly due to hybrid pickups (they make those too) not being sold....or a re-stalling economy...or who knows what?
I've never considered MSNBC to be what you would call an unbiased news source, but Mr LeBeau might have a point when he states that Priuses now have much MUCH more competition than they did four years ago.
It's like QA.
Toyota used to be the NUMBER ONE, without a doubt, take-it-to-the-bank LEADER in quality.
Now????
Eh.....now it's six five and pick 'em. They're still a top drawer company WRT QA, but now people aren't so sure that they're worth the extra $$$ on the sticker.
Fuel economy looks to be the same battle, fought the same way with perhaps the same result.
What was the Prius getting for fuel efficiency five years ago?
What is it now?
What are they doing for 2013?

You may not like the article...but there are some interesting opinions therein that the folks in Aichi had already better be considering, otherwise they're going to find themselves on GM's trajectory.....

 

You could argue that around 2008, everybody who wanted a hybrid had already bought one. That would have been a more relevant time to introduce this article. But when Toyota keeps redesigning the Prius and introducing new models that notion becomes null. An interest in hybrids only goes up from here.

 

truth of the story is that March 2012 was record sales month for the Prius in the USA.

As in best selling hybrid month EVER IN THE HISTORY.


so all these new media reports stating something completely different makes me wonder who is paying for that.

 

You can make that argument with the regular Prius, but I think you have a harder time with the v and c. I'm not concerned with the economic argument, I just tired of the false statements and commercials (especially by Ford) that they have 40mpg vehicles. Sure they qualify it in small print but the implication is that you can count on 40mpg.

 

That has been extremely misleading. I routinely hear people recite that "40" with the assumption that's what they'd actually get.

Expectation management has been a serious problem. People just blindly accept hype. Somehow that magic value will be magically achieved with little to no cost increase in just a few year...

Of course, the PHV that I drive everyday easily exceeds 70 mpg. So, it's not like wasn't a genuine effort to deliver a realistic & affordable vehicle by at least one automaker.
.

 

Maybe reverse physhology is best ...

'Yeah, interest in running out for hybrids ... Toyota only sold 29,000 Prius last month ....

Big deal, that's nothing. #6 of all vehicles, lame'

 

I think that is where Toyota is aiming the Prius C at $19K. My dealer cannot keep the C's on the lot.

 

Look at fuelly.com
2001 - 03 Prius - low 40's MPG
2004 - 08 Prius - 45 MPG (2009 seems anomaly)
2010 - 2012 'regular' Prius - 47 to 49 MPG ....

all the while, the car has grown from a wittle, wee sedan to somewhere between compact and midsize. What was 2001 HP? 90?
Now 3rd gen has 132 overall HP....

and the cost hasn't gone up all that much to get into liftback.

These '40 MPG highway' sedans are still nothing more than compact cars. I've sat in Focus hatch, Elantra sedan, Cruze sedan ... they do not have the seating or cargo room of 3rd gen Prius. Not to mention, hatchbacks always cost more.

But, yes, an Elantra Touring hatchback base GLS would be much cheaper than a 2012 Prius Two, $5.4k, but it gets 26mpg.

 

4th gen regular Prius should be out in just over 3 years. What are the chances Toyota irons out most of the things people balk about now -

no more floating bridge console
couple more MPGs - 52 average
same weight, few more HP, 138
better interior, better looks outside.
same great prius shape and chassis
Starts at $24k

Betchya Toyota is designing 4th gen Prius everyday, right now. Think we'll see a true, 52 MPG average compact/midsize conventional hatchback in 3 years? Probablility 0....

They'll still be wondering how to average 35 on a Focus hatch.

 

Did you mistakenly use a Prius Three for reference? My zip code produces a price difference of only $6390, with the Elantra still missing some significant features.

But I believe there are plenty of us long-term planners who keep cars longer than that, often much longer, so even this large 'hybrid premium' is justifiable. (Fortunately, the 'premium' I paid was much smaller.)

The only car I ever unloaded with less than 100k miles was the first one, provided by my parents. (It actually went back to them, with the intention of being passed along to a younger sibling.) The four non-hybrids personally selected by me or the spouse have collectively run over 700k miles. Under the current car replacement plan, that figure should exceed 800k when the remaining two are scrapped.