Gas prices plummeting, and so are hybrid sales

Yep, when gas goes down, you actually see Prius ads on TV. And to your point, the G4s look pretty much the same as the G3s. But Prius is great vehicle and should go thousands more miles than a standard ICE car.

 

And then when the price eventually goes back up again everyone will panic and sales will go up.

 

This gas price drop is just temporary, it will rebound eventually, especially when traveling season is at peak.

 

So, now is a good time to buy a hybrid then!

 

or when putin dies.

 

I for one shall enjoy lower gas prices and my prius. Gas is well under $3 a gallon here and I commute 70 miles a day round trip x 4 days a week. I am literally spending in a month what I was spending each week with my old explorer.

 

Just a part of the cycle that has been occurring since we've had fuel efficient cars.

The truth is, for many folks who drive less than 10k miles a year, a hybrid doesn't always make the most sense economically. A solid 35mpg car can cost thousands less than a Prius and not be slapped with the treehugger label or the subjective looks. So you are on the right track. As vehicles approach the magical 40mpg mark, there will be less interest in odd-ball super efficient vehicles. After 50mpg the savings becomes quite small unless you drive a large number of miles each year.

That's where electrics come in. You don't have to sacrifice power or looks for efficiency. In some cases anyway. lol

 

And the same people who bragged about avoiding the 'hybrid premium' when fuel prices are low will whine about the jump in hybrid prices when supply is constrained.

 

Uh oh...He looks to be in pretty good shape.
But seriously we could be in for lower gaso prices for a while.
As far as sales trends, well hybrid sales fell last Fall too so that is becoming the seasonal trend.
But does seem like the days are coming when hybrid/EV are more up-scale options.
Still no obvious Prius killer out there though.

 

I filled up yesterday for $2.71, cheapest gas in a while for me. A lot of us firmly believe this is tied into the mid-term elections. After they are over and with holidays coming on with mucho travel--- price will escalate. We can just enjoy it while we can, I guess. I drive about 2,000 miles per month so this has helped me by doubling the mpg over my Corvette and RX350.

 

I read on other sites that the low gas prices are a result of a variety of things aside from fracking, mostly geopolitical stuff, such as Saudi Arabia not cutting production like they normally would when oil prices drop too much. But let's not turn this into a political debate.

If gas prices remain low for a long period of time, say several months to a year, I wonder if this will influence Toyota regarding pricing on the Gen 4 Prius. Many cars are coming out now have increasingly better mpg. While it's nowhere near hybrid levels, it's good enough for most people, especially considering many of them will also cost thousands less than a hybrid. Why buy the cheapest prius liftback for $25k (without haggling/incentives), when you could just get a corolla for $19k instead?

Gen 3 was able to wow a lot of people back when it first came out because there was no other real competitor to it, nor did any other vehicle have insanely high mpg. Sure, there was the Honda Insight, but that car wasn't very popular. Nowadays you can pick from a variety of hybrids, along with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles in case the prius isn't to your liking. Sure, they're probably not as good a deal overall, but a lot of people are okay with less mpg for more power/handling, or more ev range in the case of plug-ins.

Bottomline for me is that Gen 4 Prius had better be awesome. And I hope they release the Gen 2 Plug-in Prius nationwide, or my next car is going to be a non-Toyota plug-in, probably a Volt or Tesla Model 3.

 

Actually, I think the Persona is a bit of a tease, touch of taste when it comes to the G4

They did it in 2013, now in 2015.

The G4 should have minor upgrades, but the MPG should be the forerunner.

The drop in gas prices, may just push it back further, however I am sure it is fully finished,
now we just wait until gas goes up to see it released....which we all know wont be too long.

 

30 mpg highway, and 17 city.

 

^^^party pooper


Toyota Pledges Crash Prevention Technology for All Vehicles - Gasbuddy Gas Prices


...this oughtta sell a few cars amongst us over 40 crowd...

 

I think these hybrid sales figures are just blips, measured over weeks. The trends are measured over years, and I think hybrids are the trend of the future. Once you taste 60 mpg, there's no going back to wasteful non-hybrids.

I'd expect oil prices to fall; they tend to fluctuate whenever there are tensions in oil-producing countries. We have turmoil in the Middle East, and in Eastern Europe, -double whammy. Even Nigerian oil may be affected by the Ebola outbreak for all we know.

 

10 years ago my 2000 Intrigue would get 30mpg on the open road. Good fuel economy is in the mind of the buyer and some have lower standards than others.

 

I can't go back to the wasteful process of burning fuel to accelerate, then wasting more energy to decelerate.

 

+1...