vehicle availability

I would think that some hybrids, camry, and yaris are in short supply in at least some areas. The same thing is probably true for honda accords, civics, fits, and ford escape hybrids, as well. the same thing is not true for any dodges, however.

jeff

Really? Why would you suspect that a hybrid would be in short supply?

Assuming you are talking about Toyotas, I read somewhere that Toyota hybrids are at a 10 day supply

According to Automotive News, as of May 1, Toyota/Scion cars were at a 41 day supply.

For comparison, car day supply for some others: Honda: 57 Nissan: 70 Chevrolet: 42 Pontiac: 69 Saab: 151 Saturn: 97 Chrysler: 65 Dodge: 43 Ford: 54 Industry average: 54

Days supply is an indicator of how many days it would take to theoretically sell the inventory down to zero, based on the average sales per day and how many vehicles are in inventory. The lower the days supply, the shorter the supply is.

June figures should be out either this Monday or next.

Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

I pulled up "prius" on the Lithia site (west coastToyota dealer) they show

69 of them scattered from California to Texas to Dakotas. But they had pretty stiff prices on them.

Ron in Ca

As supply goes down and/or demand goes up, then prices will rise. Like the days of Japanese import quotas in the 1970's and 1980's (before they were made in the US), you can expect to pay more than list price for a Prius.

In 1979 I was very lucky to "only" pay list price for a Mazda 626, and same for a 1986 Accord LXi. I signed a contract for the Accord LXi before they had any to sell (it was a major change from the 1985), and buy the time I came to pick up the car about 4 weeks later they were charging about $1500 over list price.

Used to - AFAIK, that (paying more than MSRP) no longer applies. Supply isn't exactly overwheming these days, but it's a *lot* better than a few years ago. For the past year or so there have usually been 2 - 4 Priuses sitting on the local dealer's lot.

Cathy

I found

indicates the Prius has limited availability. I was surprised to learn that only 25% of the Highlander sales were hybrid. Looking at local dealers inventory, there were only four Highlander Hybrids were available, and the prices were high (over $38,000 for base configuration). Am I really stuck paying that much if I can find it?

-- Ron

Ron, I bought an 08 Limited AWD in 7/08. (it has average 19.2 MPG for 9400 miles) This tank at 17.2 and most short trips under 6 miles

The salesman suggested that it would take a long time to recoup the extra 5 or 6k based on mileage alone. He'd just driven an 07 hybrid to/from/around San Francisco for a few days and said it was fine with slow speeds and long hills - he thought where we live (Redding, Ca0 that the economy of the hybrid wouldn't be really worth the $$ - I've never done any math on it but

6k is a lot of bucks at 10-11k miles/year in the hills. He said he'd suggest hybrid to someone driving start/stop and below 30mph (real estate agent?) that over 30 give/take it ran on gasoline engine .

Just his take

Ronin Ca

I found

indicates the Prius has limited availability. I was surprised to learn that only 25% of the Highlander sales were hybrid. Looking at local dealers inventory, there were only four Highlander Hybrids were available, and the prices were high (over $38,000 for base configuration). Am I really stuck paying that much if I can find it?

-- Ron

Thanks for giving your results.

If the hybrid gets 25 mpg, than it would take 150,000 miles to pay off the hybrid premium at $4.00 a gal.

Looking at prices, I would be paying $3-4,000 for getting a SUV instead of minivan.

I think that there are some other benefits to hybrid vehicles than the better milage. I have heard that there is less brake wear because of regenerative braking. Also for the same internal combustion engine, the acceleration is better.

-- Ron

"Ron Peterson" ... I think that there are some other benefits to hybrid vehicles than the better milage. I have heard that there is less brake wear because of regenerative braking. ____________________ True as the brakes in the Prius only use the pads at 7 MOH and below unless panic stopping. ____________________

Also for the same internal combustion engine, the acceleration is better. ____________________

Because of the electric assist.