I’ve read where aero plays a large part in the styling of these 3 Hybrids, however that doesn’t translate to the Civic or Camry Hybrids.
The Civic seems to have flush alloy wheels though.

Hybrids will really takeoff when they are fully viable for mainstream sedans, wagons, & vans, rather than just similar looking 5 door hatches.

I’d be happy to drive a hybrid, but I don’t need to advertise it.

Apparently sales of the current Prius have almost halved in the US, since fuel prices went down, & toyota has mothballed building a new Prius factory in the US.

Seems they will have quite a few of the old model available for sale after the new one lobs.

Loooosers!!!

Spitfire says; Sports Cars and Toyota are mutually exclusive.

That’s a 10% increase in price over the past month! Used to be $32,990… and even less before then!!! DAMN YOU HONDA.

You know a wanker in the latest shape Prado attempting to run over everything in front of them.

Bring back the Corona at least they were rear wheel drive although pretty hard to keep on the road.LOL.

Not really Uncle Kevs’ fault re the import taxes etc.

in fact part of the reason his Gov’t is providing assistance to the Aussie Car Industry, is because they are still going to drop the import duty to 5% in (I think) 2010.

Australia has one of the lowest rates of import duty on cars, in the Western World, the reasoning is that it forces our local manufacturers to be more competitive.

Agrovating yes, but a rip-off. Not always. Automakers are able to shift a much larger number of vehicles, giving them better economies of scale and the ability to reduce production costs. In addition to that, Australian imports are taxed fairly highly, especially luxury vehicles (thanks mr. rudd).

I still believe we were bieng gouged with the Commodore though, especially when they announced $29, 990 drive away pricing towards the end of last year and they sell more here than in the US.

You reckon?
Don’t you think that if you paid say $24000 for the prius you bought today, that being able to buy the exact same car in a couple of months time for $20000, would harm your resale?

Surely if you were selling in say a years time, that a buyer would rather pay just a little extra for a brand new one (of the old model), rather than yours with a years worth of mileage on it?

Yes the new model would diminish the prices of the old model, but by still selling the old model at a new price thousands cheaper than it was, means your 2nd hand one would have to be worth even less.

True what you say re the price difference from US to Oz.

My own favourite car sell for much less over there than here. It sucks & it’s wrong, but cas sell for what the market will bear.

The resale prices would have diminished following the release of a new model regardless of whether or not the previous model continues to be sold. If anything I believe that continuing to offer the previous model would sustain 2nd hand vehicle prices.

And as for your point relating to the price of the prius in USA vs Australia, the fact that we pay inflated prices for our cars when compared to the price in USA should not come as a surprise to you nor anyone. Look at the price of any car that is sold in both the USA and Australia and you will see a pattern. And that pattern is certainly not confined to any single auto manufacturer.

Pay $38k for a car that sells in the US for $24k, then have your model slashed in price to position it as a cheaper altenative to the all new one.

And others have slagged Aussie car builders for gutzing their prices, hurting second hand values in the process.