Toyota hybrid price reductions on the way...

I think you'll see any price movement when the Prius tax credit drops below the full $3150. \\


BUT, in the meantime, I am saving 1/2 my monthly gasoline bill... which is (was?? ) usually $250-$300...

 

Listen, Hybrid Highlander sales are slowing out here in Boulder County. That means wait time is down to 3-4 weeks. (My buddy at work just bought one).

Price is still MSRP. Hard to define what "paying a premium" means, be it the over sticker, sticker, or over the ICE car.

Truth be told, car sales are always slow this time of year. The weather is bad, the Christmas credit card bill is a reality, and the tax refund has yet to arrive. I suspect the one exception right now is the 2007 Ginormous Machine, outselling the 2006 by a mile.

I do think it's funny that GM introduced their new 07 when gas is at its seasonal low.

Let's check on sales numbers after hurricane season 2006.

Nate

 

I believe Ford actually developed a full-hybrid technology independently, but found they were a step slow and Toyota owned the relevant IP. So Ford actually uses all it's own components (except for batteries), but needs to pay license costs due to an patent agreement. In the press announcements Toyota definitely skewed this to make it appear as if they were lending Ford the technology.

This is contrary to companies like Nissan, which is straight up licensing the technology without having developed anything on their own. And Ford's hybrid technology for passenger vehicles is arguably more advanced than everyone else outside of Toyota, Honda included.

GM took a SUV-centric approach to hybrid technology, and suffered a couple setbacks when they decided to dramatically revamp their approach (i.e. they also had an earlier route to a full-hybrid design, but scrapped it due to various issues and restarted, partnering with DCX). So they are also a bit behind, but much further along than most other manufacturers, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW, and Volkswagon included.

No slight on Toyota, but the domestics are often unfairly maligned.

 

Honestly, if your buddy had to wait 3-4 weeks and paid MSRP, he should have looked a little harder. Dianne was selling them quite a bit under MSRP, and apparently had too many. At my local dealership, they are just sitting out front.

Other than the people who were first in line to get them, I don't think anyone's paying MSRP for one.

 

Maybe, maybe not....
first of all.. the general public still doesn't even know they exist, let alone what they are really about. We are in the beginning stages of revelation to the public...its not wonder since you rarely see advertizing.

Second, as the prices fall, more and more people will be able to afford them.

As both of those dynamics fight it out, the demand will skyrocket even more than it already is.

The price dropping will only open up a new market to people who are out of the picture right now.... the premium of paying full msrp and a long waiting line has not abaited yet.
Only time will tell.
If the price drops, the lines will get longer and vice versa...toyota will have to decide what the market will bear. But there is definately a market!

I for one am so glad I bought mine and knowing what I now know I would wait twice as long if I had to do it again..... its worth it!

The Honeymoon's not over yet!.... 1000 miles and going!
And likewise, you say america is starting to get over thier fling with the hybrid, and I say the love affair is only starting.


therein is where we differ and I suppose thats why you sell chevy's instead of prius's!

At least you don't have trouble having cars on the lot!

 

My friendly salesperson tells me that when gas drops a few pennies in a week, he won't sell any. But when gas jumps a nickel, they all sell out.

I have been watching the local dealer's inventory for 4 months and there is definitely some truth to that trend.

Until the dealers are holding inventory for weeks, they won't lower the prices. They don't have to.

 

I think there is some truth to that... people are very fickle, insecure and survivalistic.

The good thing about the prius is it brings so much more to the table than just gas savings....however if you remove the gas savings incentive, then it has to compete with everything else out there based on power, style, versatility, handling etc...... although it still definatly holds its own, it opens up alot more competition!.... then what works against it, is the high price.

Most people are not foolish and think gas is never going back up again.. "if not higher", but there are also many that are in survival mode from day to day mentality.

I personally always like the idea of having car for all things... thats why I originally had a grand cheerekee jeep.... I could go anywhere do anything with the feel of luxury.... the only limitation of the prius is it can't do offroading... but it has so much more in every other area it overpowered my need to keep my jeep. "actually I am keeping it for off roading and pulling my boat.

In America, cars that have power is still premium.. but everyone wants thier cake and eat it too... they won't take power at the expense of gas mileage.... we are teetering between that and taking gas mileage at a loss for power.

The prius is an excellent comprimise to acheive that. It gives plenty of power for normal communting and can hold its own at 30mph or 80mph to meet the need for acceleration.

But your're right, if people get the "illusion" that all is well, demand will drop to some degree, but when people think gas is going through the roof.. the hybrid is about the only thing that will sell.

Its funny how we swing so far so fast to each extreme!

If we have a brain in our head, we need to look at the rest of the world and stop thinking we are so elite...... gas companies charge as much as they can get..... oil companies have tons of political power in this country and are gaining ground..

Fortunaltely we as a people still speak out when pushed too far... but we now think 2.00/gal is a blessing and a bargain!... we too are succumbing to accepting higher prices. What the market will bear is what they will charge.

And if I know oil people... when they know the market thinks 2.00/gal is a bargain..... guess what... the price "will" go up, and probrably alot till we squeal again!

If we let it go up to 3.30/gal last time, how far will we tolerate next time?

The only reason it rebounded this much is they got tooooo greedy toooo fast and didn't calculate that the pres would get on the phone and bring in oil from other countries... they overplayed thier hand to the point that senators had to go to congress to get administration to slap their hand.

At any rate.. any way you stack it, the prius is the wave of the future in many ways.

Just like the stock market goes up and down, up and down "on its way up" so goes our gas prices. We are currently in a down.... I'll eat my hat if I'm wrong.


The American car companies have thier money invested that says it will stay low, the foreign are betting it won't..... whos making all the money right now in America?.. Whos winning the bet? Who will be the winner 5 years from now?

Good for Ford that its smelling the change in prevailing winds.

As long as they don't do like the other American manufactures and simply present a mirage that really doesn't exist they may do well.


Think about this!
Prices falling for technology is nothing new.
Look at the price of computers that have fallen from 3000.00 for a 90Mhz to 700.00 for a 3000Mhz. http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...nter&catLevel=1

Did that make it so the frenzy and fad for computers go away?... now computers are in every home and are almost as common as the TV and the phone.
Look at TV's, phones etc... everything goes forward in technology... they do not stay the same "except the American cars"

Hybrids and similiar willl be no different. Companies that only embrace old technolgy will die.... because no matter now much more efficient they make thier engines, there is always room for "more" savings in effeciency that can be added by throwing in the hybrid technologies?


I do think its cool that prius doesn't just have a cool hybrid technology but also has a cool new "old" engine "the Atkinson" that is also more efficient. Toyota hits it on all angles.

The good thing about toyota is that.....even though other inventors may come out with cool alternatives, they are often unproven when they try to market them. But when Toyota comes out with it, it will work and work well.

Anybody who is desperate enough to be the first to try some of these other systems coming out are foolish without adequate testing especailly when they are having to pay a premium to do it.

Heck I would invent things too if I could get enough desperate people to fund through the nose for my "projects" until I finally figured it out?
I have never care to be a beta tester and if I was, I should be paid or at the least do it for free.... not pay through the nose!

How about they get it figured out first and then market it?
Thats the price of inventing something with a good name and trust..... we dont' see too much of that...... but so far Toyota holds up.

 

That doesn't seem to be true now that the tax credit has taken effect. I exchanged email's with Dianne two weeks ago and they were asking/getting $6000 OVER MSRP. Of course these were ones that were either on the lot or on their way.

In my search, MSRP was extended if you went on the waiting list (which was at least 4 weeks, but often more).

 

I was listening to a local radio show highlighting some local hybrid experts. The whole Toyota - Ford thing was talked about and the history they gave was...

From '86 to '92 Toyota was working with a Japanese transmission developer called Aisin on the development of hybrid technology. After '92, Toyota ended their relationship and further developed the technology on their own.

Around the same time, Volvo was also developing hybrid technology and entered into a relationship with Aisin from '94 to '99. Ford then bought Volvo, and this technology became the basis for the current Ford products.

Given that Aisin is the common factor, it's not suprising that the Toyota and Ford developments were similar. Ford did not buy any hybrid technology from Toyota. The licensing was probably done to keep things simple and not cloud it's public perception with potential lawsuits.