Two toyota dealers had ads in the Washington Post this past weekend for Package 3 and 4 Pri for 1-1.5K less than MSRP. The supply has exceeded the demand for the Prius in Northern VA of Wash. D.C. VA no longer issues license plates to hybirds owners that allows the cars on the restricted (HOV) lanes of I95/I395 with less than 3 people. The law that allows hybrids with less than 3 people on the HOV lanes expires 6/30/07. Two persons are required on the I66 HOV lanes. If the law is not changed, there will be thousands of used hybrids for sale in No. VA in the middle of 2007.
It is true, there is a lot of supply and they're definitely selling under MSRP in this area now. As a correction to your post, 95/395 are the only corridors that currently do not allow single-occupant HOV access for hybrids. The HOV lanes on 66, the Dulles TR and all of the HOV lanes in Hampton Roads can still be accessed by single-occupant hybrid cars. This will be the case until July 2007, and the legislature may very well make yet another extension. It's a jump to say that there will be tons of used flooding the market come next summer. I wouldn't assume that all hybrid buyers are after HOV access. If that's the case then there would have been excess supply beginning in August after the 95/395 exeption expired. In reality, it wasn't until late October that dealers had excess supply. That's my guess anyway.
In the not too distant future supply will equal or exceed demand everywhere and anyone who wants a Prius will be able to visit the local dealer and pick among many in stock. That's the way it's always been in Puerto Rico, where demand has never exceeded supply. My dealer has several 2006s and even two new 2005s, with the 2007s arriving soon.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jtmhog @ Oct 30 2006, 09:59 AM) [snapback]340594[/snapback]</div> I read this as the 'conclusion' that was being questioned. No one disputes that the Prius demand is dropping off from it's insane levels to something more reasonable. I don't think anyone believes the bottom is going to drop out either. Most of us just expect that the Prius will become a 'normal' car that is a reasonable choice in the pool of available cars, which is kind of the end goal anyway, eh? But, to assume that people who now drive a Prius in the HOV lanes are going to dump them immediately when they no longer get special access is an iffy bet. To do this, you would have to assume that people who are going to a more congested and more stop and go commute, are immediately going to go trade in for a car with worse mileage. That's not a bet I'd be willing to take. I'm sure they'll be sad, but I don't think they'll cut off their noses or shoot off their toeses in spite
