Love your hybrid? Apparently not that much
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2010 Toyota Prius
When we tested out the 2010 Prius last month, Toyota reps told us that they expect 20-25 percent of the new third-gen Prius sales will be from repeat buyers. This is higher than the industry average for hybrids, according to a new study put out by R.L. Polk. Maybe Prius drivers love their funny-shaped little rides a bit more than other hybrid owners, but now we know what the average is: fewer than one out of every five hybrid owners buys the same vehicle again. Traditionally, automotive brand (not model) loyalty rate is around 40 percent. Perhaps more interesting, only 30 percent of hybrid owners even buy another hybrid of any kind, Polk found. Considering the poor hybrid sales recently, this makes some sense.
One bit of good (if unsurprising) news: having a popular hybrid like the Prius means that many people believe all Toyota vehicles are fuel efficient.
[Source: Ward's Auto, R.L. Polk via AllCarsElectric]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jpm 8:13PM (3/19/2009)
What the hell kind of story is this? These are the dumbest statistics i've ever heard.
How long have hybrids been on the market? About 10 years. How many cars does an average person go through during that time? 1 or 2. Is this enough cycle time to make an intelligent estimate on people's hybrid buying habits? NO.
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BoneHeadOtto 10:18PM (3/20/2009)
+1000 my thoughts exactly. If you owned a hybrid chances are you owned the lastest Prius model or Civic model. If you sold that car to buy another, what are you going to buy? another identical Civic hybrid or Prius? Chances are the hybrid buyers are keeping their hybrids because there is nothing better for them to replace them with
ryan 9:17PM (3/19/2009)
In regards to the bit about makers having fuel efficient lineups or not... I don't buy into the average fuel efficiency bull. I look at what the top performers are (as that is all that interests me personally) and judge the company from there. The low performers hold absolutely no meaning to me in the slightest. The Prius getting 50mpg means that Toyota makes a car that interests me. Volkswagen having their TDIs for sale which ACTUALLY perform at about 50mpg+ makes me like Volkswagen. The rest of the makers (Honda aside) simply don't have anything that interests me. Therefore, in my eyes, only VW and Toyota make cars with decent fuel efficiency.
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russellgeister 2:54AM (3/20/2009)
hi ryan can you get the huyundi I30 where you are the deisel gets 4.9l per 100kms its the same size as the golf and in australia its about 8k cheeper
Chris M 10:31PM (3/19/2009)
Consumers Union surveyed several million car owners, and asked them if they'd buy the same car again. 97% of Toyota Prius owners would buy it again, the highest rate of any car model. The same survey also placed the Prius and the Honda Civic hybrids in the top ten most reliable cars.
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Brn 11:38AM (3/20/2009)
If one makes the leap that these surveys are accurate, then there's a huge difference between what people say and what they do.
I don't trust most surveys, so I don't know why I'm even posting this. :)
Rain 10:58PM (3/19/2009)
Maybe the Ford Hybrids will change the game for the better.
I'm not necessarily a Ford fan though every one I've owned has been satisfactory.
They just suffered from a condition that I coined 'Fordnitude'.
Overboost of the powered accessories and control levers that are as long as wrecking bars
The point is that Ford improved their style and overall road feel to a decent level,and bringing
competition to the fledgling market is healthy.
Now if the Car Makers and the Finance people can just come together and Push these
just as hard as They did the $15,000 dollar profit per unit status symbols(called Expedition and King Ranch,Eddie Bauer.etc.etc.),then
all parties from the Honcho's down to the consumer will be an eventual winner.
I'm quite curious about how the Insight will be regarded after a few years of real world service.
Game on!
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win39 11:14PM (3/19/2009)
I have to agree with Chris. The huge conflict between the stats in this article and the ones collected by Consumer Reports should not be in such conflict. One possibility is that CR collects an opinion about purchasing the car again while they still own the cars. I suppose some could change their minds, but that many?
Citing that flawed and misleading article again is really sloppy. Hybrid sales are down, but not as much as the automobile industry as a whole, or to turn it on its head hybrid sales are better than the rest of the depressed auto market.
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Michael Hippenhammer 1:22AM (3/20/2009)
The VW diesels have the most loyal following. I am on my third VW diesel and plan on buying another in the future. I worked for VW sales and the old timers who owned VW diesels from the past, even when they were the slowest cars on the road ,peoples eyes glaze over with that dreamy look with wonderful thoughts of their past diesel.
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james 9:22AM (3/20/2009)
...and they cough and wheeze remembering the smoke cloud of the old VW diesels... :) I remember those days, took my drivers test in a diesel Rabbit. They have definitely come a long way. My old 2000 Bug TDI with the Kerma injectors was actually darned fast. It would accelerate quickly up I70 out of Denver.
Anthony 11:32AM (3/20/2009)
I agree. I had a VW Jetta diesal (1999) & it was great. I lament the day I was overcome w/ sports car fever & traded it in (only to go to a Civic Hybrid 6 months later). I still think selling the Jetta was the worst car mistake I've made in 10-12 cars.
Chris M 6:56PM (3/21/2009)
Not my experience. I used to drive a VW Rabbit diesel, it was hard to start in cold weather, was noisy and had a rough ride. The only upside was the fuel economy.
Don't miss it a bit now that I'm driving a Prius.
Michael Hippenhammer 2:18AM (3/22/2009)
Sorry for your experience. You should try them out when they are newer and you won't have those problems. We never had any problems with starting in cold. It is unfortunate that VW has this reputation but, they often end up in younger peoples hands that do not maintain them properly and someone like you ends up with one. All you have to do is replace the glow plugs and relay and problem is gone. A simple fix that can be done in less than a half hour. I know because I ended up with one with problems and was suprised at how easy it was to fix. That car now has 300,000 miles and is still going with a new owner and being that the car is now 28 years old. Just like every car on the road it needs a responible owner that won't drive it into the ground and will maintain it properly. The new TDI's have come a long way and are now quiet, don't smoke, and are a blast to drive. Until full battery cars available I will continue to buy VW diesels. I have been driving VW's for over twenty years, not including the ones I grew up with starting with a new 1966 Beetle which was our families first VW follow by many busses in the 70's all have been very reliable.
Jeff Grant 1:53AM (3/20/2009)
"I worked for VW sales and the old timers who owned VW diesels from the past, even when they were the slowest cars on the road ,peoples eyes glaze over with that dreamy look with wonderful thoughts of their past diesel."
Darn Mike, you're a good salesman. Want diesel, going crazy. .
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UH2L 2:13AM (3/20/2009)
CR is flawed because they only survey their readers who tend to follow the magazine's advice to begin with. Their surveys thus cannot be representative of the market.
I wonder if some of the disloyalty with hybrids is the annoying aspects of driveability when the engine braking kicks in unpredictably while stepping on the brake. This makes modulation of deceleration difficult. I've experienced this with both generations of Prius but I've heard other hybrid vehicles had made this more transparent.
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Nick 3:14AM (3/20/2009)
"having a popular hybrid like the Prius means that many people believe all Toyota vehicles are fuel efficient."
That's true, Toyota cars are often less efficient than GM cars, yet the brand profits from the Prius' image.
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Richard 8:01AM (3/20/2009)
Hybrids may have been out for 10 years, but they didn't really reach mainstream popularity (and sales) until 2004, with sales climbing notably in 2005 and again in 2007. Anyone who likes their Prius and would like a similar vehicle hasn't had any reason to sell, so those who do are people who have a need (or a desire) for a very different type of car.
Once there are other choices out there in the US market that directly compete with the Prius for size, utility, and efficiency, these numbers will become a lot more interesting. As it is, they're probably fairly heavily weighted towards people who owned an Insight or a gen-1 Prius, neither one of which were particularly well thought of outside of a loyal group of enthusiasts.
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GoodCheer 10:10AM (3/20/2009)
Er: Sebastian.... math much? One in five IS 20%.
"they expect 20-25 percent of (...) Prius sales will be from repeat buyers. This is higher than the industry average for hybrids, (...) fewer than one out of every five hybrid owners buys the same vehicle again."
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Paul 10:22AM (3/20/2009)
New way to get traffic and BS advertisers..... run Negative EV stores...
That's called SELLING OUT......
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ziv 6:03PM (3/21/2009)
Relying on Consumer Reports for accuracy is like relying on the Daily Kos or Little Green Footballs for presidential polling. All three are inherently inaccurate due to the fact that they are selfselecting groups.
That having been said, I think Sebastian was intentionally kicking a hornets nest here. The Prius is the first non-diesel car in the US to get relatively high mileage and it has obtained a rabid following.
Anything that cuts our reliance on foreign oil is a good thing for everyone involved.
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