Buyers want hybrid not E85
18 Jul, 2008
14 Comments 
New car buyers are considering hybrid vehicles more than ever, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Alternative Powertrain Study, released last Tuesday.62 per cent of the 4000+ new cay buyer respondents said they are considering a hybrid as their next car, an increase of 12 per cent over last year’s figure.
Analysts believe this increase in demand is due to a better understanding of hybrid cars and technology.
“Lack of education is becoming less of an issue, people are becoming more comfortable with the technology.” Mike Marshall, Power’s director of automotive emerging technologies said.
In the 2007 survey, the main reason consumers weren’t considering hybrids was lack of familiarity with the technology, which this yeah is no longer the top concern.
What does worry consumers, however, is whether or not hybrid powertrains will pay for themselves over the period of ownership.
Another interesting find was the move away from E85 vehicles. Only 43 percent of consumers are still interested in the ethanol cars, the main concern being the affect it has on agricultural production.
”As agriculture starts shifting production to ethanol, prices are going up. People are starting to get that. It’s one of many solutions out there, but it has negative consequences as well, and these consequences show up in the grocery store.” Marshal said.
JD powers also released its annual Automotive Environmental Index, which indexes the top 30 models based on a number of environmental aspects including air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy.
Toyota and its luxury arm Lexus came out number one with a combined seven vehicles in the index: six Toyotas and one Lexus. General Motors which includes, GM, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn had its best year with a combined six vehicles, meanwhile Ford had three vehicles.
Are you considering a hybrid as your next car?
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July 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
If the car suited my needs i would consider a DIESEL or LPG hybrid only! Petrol hybrids don’t save enough money at the bowser and ethanol is pushing up food prices…..and when food is used for fuel the most vulnerable people on the planet suffer the most!!!! So that makes Ethanol morally bankrupt.
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July 18th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Why don’t we use methanol? Its fermented from wood and every sawmill on earth has plenty of sawdust that could be used for fermentation. So no extra trees are being logged to keep the greenies happy.
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July 18th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Did I read this too quickly? 62% of buyers are considering a hybrid for their next vehicle? Where do they get this tosh from? I’m not knocking hybrids, and never have, but the percentage of people who actually give over their hard-earned is another matter entirely, surely.
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July 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
NOT FOR ME. Check out the RACV anual running cost report below;
Small:
Hyundai i30 SX CRDi 1.6L 5dr (a) (diesel) $151.55
Hyundai i30 SX 2.0L 5dr $152.08
Honda Civic VTi 1.8L 4dr (a) $162.12
Holden Astra CD 1.8L 5dr (a) $162.43
Ford Focus CL 2.0L 5dr (a) $162.72
Mitsubishi Lancer ES 2.0L 4dr (a) $164.04
Toyota Corolla Ascent 1.8L 5dr (a) $164.91
Mazda3 Neo 2.0L 5dr (a) $169.80
Ford Focus TDCi 2.0L 5dr (diesel) $173.55
Honda Civic Hybrid 1.4L (a) $185.05
Mazda Mazda3 Diesel 2.0L 5dr $185.68
Holden Astra CDTi 1.9L 5dr (a) (diesel) $186.97
Toyota Prius Hybrid 1.5L 5dr (a) $211.19
I dont think the Toyota Prius Hybrid’s fuel efficiency could pay off for its $40K drive away price and $211 weekly running cost.
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July 18th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Just wait until someone buys a secondhand hybrid and has to pay for battery replacement it’s not like going to Woolies and buying heaps of AAA batteries
laurie
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July 18th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Sounds like another stupid survey!
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July 19th, 2008 at 12:45 am
As Golfschwein said, 62% huh? 62% consider a hybrid for their next car; 61.5% quickly come to their senses and buy something that’s: Actually better for the environment / Actually cheaper to run / Not so stupidly priced for the quality of vehicle you get / Fun to drive / Able to overtake more than 1 semi-trailer per overtaking lane / Doesn’t turn you into a smug, pretentious Wanker.
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July 19th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Seen plenty of wankers in normal cars dont worry about that.
and i do believe 62 % would buy one even if it does cost more, because they understand the sooner we start moving away from pure petrol cars the faster we will start to invest in cars that have zero emissions.
new technolagys are always expensive at the start but then after a few years they get cheaper to make.
as for the battery problem, they can last for more then 5 years the same amount people usually buy a new car.
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July 19th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
GM ’s sudden stewardship of the environment is simply a way to continue to make gas guzzlers thanks to E85 an extremely inefficient fuel. The CAFE standards call for all car companies to achieve an average MPG for all vehicles. I believe the most recent number is 27 MPG. Well if you make the biggest money off of 10 miles per gallon SUV’s you would hate to say good bye to them wouldn’t you?
The CAFE standards has a loophole, that being that an E85 vehicle operating on E85 miles per gallon are ONLY figured against the actual amount of gasoline in the blend (15%) if you divide 100% fuel by 15% gasoline you get the multiplier to the mpg (666) therefore a gas guzzling 10 MPG SUV is given credit for 66.6 MPG. If you sell one SUV like this you can have 5 vehicles only achieving 20 MPG and this gas guzzling SUV and you average more than 27 MPG overall while not one of their vehicles really met the standard.
GM is not the only one taking advantage of this free ride Ford and Chrysler are too. The big three are heading down the toilet and this is just their hands clinging to the rim.
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July 19th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
how do you afford a new car every 5 years?? let alone 1 that you have to fix the battery before you sell or lose some value for a near dead battery.
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July 20th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
“heading down the toilet and this is just their hands clinging to the rim”.Have to remember that one.LOL
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July 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I wouldn’t be wearing my Sunday best on that 5 yearly visit to the Toyota dealer to replace the batteries.LOL.
Think of a number and double it.LOL. Ha Ha Ha
Oh what a feeling!!!!
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July 21st, 2008 at 4:11 pm
realcars there has never been a battery replaced in a 2nd gen prius yet! there are taxis around that have done over 300,000kms in cairns and darwin that have never replaced a battery!hybrid is not only cheap to run but reliable as well!
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July 21st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
‘hybrid is not only cheap to run but reliable as well!’
You must be joking.Check my earlier post of RACV running cost report; $210 per week to run,$40G to buy, doesn’t sound cheap to me.
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