Prius sales up 54%; Camry Hybrid up 40%

It's interesting that they didn't give the percent change for vehicles that dropped in sales, like the Tundra (-6%, according to Yahoo! news). The other site gave different percentage changes for the other vehicles (up 66% for Prius, 58% for Yaris), but I think that wasn't adjusted for the different number of selling days last year.

 

something that plays in the numbers is that toyota is making more pri to keep up with the demand. a year ago there weren't 10 pri sitting on the dealer lot to choose from.

 

Not that dealers have 10 sitting on the lots now...

We went on Sunday to attempt to buy Prius #2 and no luck. They were sold out, sold a bunch on Saturday. They tried to steer us towards a Matrix but we ended up getting a Scion xB. Disappointing that we couldn't get another Prius, but it's still a nice car.

 

6-12 week wait around here

 

Wait a minute, you went to buy a Prius and ended up with a Scion xB? I don't get it. Why not just wait for the Prius?

 

Umm... so you wanted a Prius but since they did not have one waiting for you right then... you got an xB instead???? Wow... talk about impatient.... I waited from february 14th to April 14th 2006 from when I ordered my car to when I took delivery... ahh, the good old days...

 

As the price of gas goes up, so go Prius sales.

Someone had a nice graph.

I'm glad I got mine when expensive gas was still $2.29.

One good outcome of being excessed from my school site, I'll be able to bid on a position much closer to home, thus reducing my commute and gas consumption. There is ONE elementary school that is only a few blocks from my house. I could walk! But don't know if they'll have any openings in the Fall.

 

If I go to the bakery for a meat pie but they have sold out of meat pies I might get a pastie but if I go shopping for a Prius and the dealer hasn't got any I think I would place an order for one from the next shipment rather than take another car altogether. Maybe I'd settle for my second preference colour or package but I wouldn't settle for anything less than a Prius.
If I desperately needed a car I'd buy an old bomb and sell it when the Prius came in, well worth it.

 

I may be lucky to find my car 2 weeks ago with the color and option I like, and pay about 1K less MSRP. Today New Yort Times report that compact cars sales jump and as everyone also see Prius sales very well... I wish one day i will see less of those big, monster like SUV on the road and street.
One benifit of "forcing" people get smaller car, encourage them to trim body weight and size European can drive small car , why not US?.. Perhaps 50% of people are overweight is the reason.

 

I think that not only has the spike in sales caught Toyota off guard, that's very surprising, but the next allocation has very very slim pickin's in replacement vehicles. That's VERY VERY surprising. Why would the next shipments from Japan have fewer vehicles intransit? I'd think that as fuel goes up more would be expected.

Production problems? Supplier problems? Frankly it does not compute.

Unless..... fuel goes up and up and up so finally the general buying public says 'we have to do something about this. let's go look at those Prius' we keep hearing about.' Frankly 'those Prius' sell themselves. But at the expense of what? What might those buyers have looked at if the Prius wasn't there? Probably the Corolla, just like at Honda and Ford ( record Focus sales ) and GM. Maybe this is a way to nudge the buying public to look at the new Corolla. "Nope we're all sold out of Prius'. We can take your order for July arrival if you want?" "Would you like to look at the new Corolla with leather and Navigation and Bluetooth?"

 

Yep, its Prius buying season. I'm seeing new ones all over the place.

Hope you get the walking distance job. I once had a job where I could walk to work and home in less than 5 min. It was great.

My GF still has a contract for next year, even though their school district is getting absorbed into a much larger one. But they have to change from year around schedule back to a traditional schedule, and she is getting less time off this summer. No guarantees about the future of her job.

 

The more I read things like this (i caught the NYT article) the more i am counting my lucky stars for finding a prius in my color for 100 over invoice early this week (last one on the lot!). stock in this area is out at almost every dealership, and most are selling for MSRP....

I would wager that the sudden drop in inventories has some to do with toyota not expecting the run on the cars, but also a pre-planned steady drop to prepare for the 2009s...demand probably made that drop way faster and now inventory will be low until the 09 pops up.

 

I picked mine up Apr, 30. When I ordered it Apr 21, I was told May 7th or longer. Dealer called me this past Monday and said it was in Jacksonville and would be delivered to Atlanta on Tuesday. I picked it up Wednesday morning. They had it parked in front of the dealer after it had been prepped. While I was signing the papers, 3 people had come in and offered to buy it for cash. They were very envious when I drove off with it.

I work for a local TV station in Atlanta, Thursday they were doing a story on alternated ways our employees handled higher gas prices. All my co workers were all over my car wanting rides and information. That afternoon me and my car were on the 6pm news on being a new hybrid owner.

Today I just hit the 100 mil mark. Either my fuel guage does not work or I am not burning that much gas. In my F-150 I would be more than a quarter down.


What a car!

 

Production lines are not kept open year round. There are cut off dates for orders, production, shipment, and delivery. The order date has passed. The last cars for 2008 are being assembled, shipped, and delivered. Toyota closes the factory for a national holiday and retooling for the next model year.