Hybrid sales way up in the midwest...

I know in the town that I live in about 40 miles out of Chicago I have seen a massive spike in hybrids and efficient cars in general. In my neighborhood alone ( About 30 houses ) there are 3 Priuses and a HyCam. I noticed the big jump happened after May when gas prices were about $3.75 here. Gives me a little hope that people are finally reacting to the high prices.

 

It comes as no surprise to me. When I bought in February, I didn't see nearly as many Prii as I do today. Yesterday, I was eating lunch in Uptown, and in the 30 minutes I was there, I saw over a dozen Prii pass by, and 3 of them black (like mine). It has also been much easier to park next to another Prius this summer than it was last winter. It is also nice to see that my homestate (oklahoma) is leading the nation in the percent increase, since it is still a state heavy into the fossil fuel exploitation industry.

 

We have five of them in town now, which is a big jump.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Sep 17 2007, 11:21 AM) [snapback]513822[/snapback]</div>

5 ? In the whole town?

I see almost 5 every mile here in LA.

 

Well, its a no brainer, especially when you see gas spiking 30-40 cents per jump. thanks to the influence of petroleum traders and its mob tactics in the midwest...these clowns monopolize the industry and threaten jobbers who dont follow their command to raise prices...and ,of course, the whiting refinery excuses...they shut down when they need a price increase for alledged maintenance...

 

Well, I'm one of those new hybrid owners here in Oklahoma that contributed to the 143% increase in sales in our state. We purchased our Prius 5 weeks ago and I am averaging from 48 to 50 mpg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(subarutoo @ Sep 17 2007, 02:44 PM) [snapback]513854[/snapback]</div>

I'm not sure which town qbee is from, but a typical town in northern Michigan (not U.P. I'm assuming) probably has as many people as 5 miles of L.A. roads do. My smallish suburb of Chicago has more people than the county I grew up in in northern MN.

I was the first in my subdivision here to have a Prius a year and a half ago, I still don't know of anybody else on my block, but it's not uncommon to see one driving by, and there's a couple where I park at work (and a Honda Accord hybrid, which are definitely more rare).

Here's another story from the same press release, but has slightly different numbers (49% increase instead of 47%). Also, in this one, they got out on a limb and say there will be over 300,000 hybrids sold this year, which if you run the numbers will happen sometime in October based on the current rate. If it stays even 40% above last year, it will pass 350,000 cars, so that's a pretty safe bet.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(subarutoo @ Sep 17 2007, 12:44 PM) [snapback]513854[/snapback]</div>

I don't even have to go a mile. There are at least five parked daily on the same level that I use in the parking structure at work.

 

Hi All,

Yep I have mentioned the giant leap in 2nd Gen Prii here in town this spring other post(s).

Today on the Drive home I was behind a red Prii for most of the highway travel. As I pulled onto the secondary road a blue Prius went by, just as I before I made the right hand on red in behind him. And we were a few cars apart till he turned off into a bank. That was a first for me here. Prii within a few hundred yards for the 3/4's of the trip.

The towns in the UP I spent half my childhood in were only 3 to 5K people. One town has grown since then, and the other is almost a ghost town they say. Sad, with the warmer weather its a nice place to live. With the old deep rock mines, they might run a towns' heating from a giant heat pump. That was the real limitation to mining that was reached. At the bottom of the mine it was just too hot for humans.

When I was up there walks home from school were an artic adventure. I remember one walk I had to give up and take shelter in a packing crate. There were like 5 workers from the factory/railroad also in there! That was the worse day 0F, and walking into a wind out of the north that was blowing 25 mph gusts, and blowing snow (about 10 yards visibility). But almost every day during the winter there was a 12 foot high snow drift to scale in the alley behind our house.

On a Prius sidebar they are talking about mining the sulfurous ore which is the only ore left on the Keeweenaw Peninsula. But there is a big enviormental objection to it. Maybe they can mine it, and send it off to Sudbury for refining ?

 

I drive about 400 miles a week and I only see maybe 6 or 7 other prii a week. (rarely more then one per day). But you know how that goes to people here in "truck country" it is a myth that you get more than 40 per gallon and they think I'm lying when I say I rarely average less than 55. Another guy even actually told me I already get over 25 per gallon in my car, so you arent really saving much in gas really. So I asked him how much do you spend each week in gas and he goes it usually costs me between 40 and 45 per week. So i just said ok so would it be fair to say that you spend almost $200 a month for gas and he said sure i guess. And then I broke it to him that the prius usually only takes about $25 - $30 in gas and that I only have to get gas about 3 times a month so it sounds to me like i'm saving at least $100 a month just on gas.

So maybe it seems that the prius may be on the rise here afterall, but we are a far cry away what it sounds like they are out west.