signal12's Blog

Hybrids Selling in Hours, Used Prices Exceeding New Prices

Posted: Jun. 12, 2008 11:06 a.m.

If high gas prices have you thinking of buying a new hybrid, act fast.  They're vanishing from dealer lots faster than factories can make them.

USA Today reports, "While sales of conventional small cars soared last month, sales of the most popular gas-electric hybrids were flat or down because dealers had fewer left. There was plenty of demand, but hybrid assembly plants are running as fast as they can, and some are short of components, particularly batteries."

The Wall Street Journal adds, " At the end of May, a new Prius averaged just under 17 hours on a dealership lot before being sold, compared with an average 3.5 days at the end of April. For comparison, Toyota's average passenger car spends about 25 days at the dealership, according to the company." 

"So, how do you get one of these hot sellers?" asks Kicking Tires.  "Either get on a waiting list or buy used. Waiting lists for the Prius, we’re told, are roughly four to six months. The Civic Hybrid was less, at three to four months on average."

Oddly enough, the waiting list may be the cheaper option.  "Listings of used Priuses on Cars.com show models across the country -- with quite a bit of mileage -- going for more than their original asking price when brand new. This is almost unheard of in the automotive marketplace."

Research the most fuel-efficient small cars and hybrids with U.S. News' car rankings and reviews.

 

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Janice and Jim Violette, of Oakland, exemplify the trend. About two months ago, as gas prices spiked, they bought a two-door, 2008 Honda Civic, a model that gets about 28 city/35 highway gas miles per gallon.

"We traded in our 1997 Ford Explorer," said Janice Violette, 48, an account manager at TD Banknorth Insurance in Waterville.

"It was in great shape, but we were getting 15 miles per gallon," she said.

Her husband had used the old Explorer to commute to Bucksport, where he works as an electrician at Verso Paper.

"We had been paying around $700 a month; now it's down to $250," she said of their savings at the pump.

The price of gas has gone up 60 cents per gallon since her last calculations, she said.

Back in February, when gas was still around $3 per gallon, small and mid-sized cars represented only 34 percent of the market. By April, that figure rose to 47 percent, according to AutoObserver.com

The car sales trend is not escaping local dealers.

"People work on a weekly budget. Anything that gets 30 miles per gallon or better right now is very much in demand," said Steve Frend, sales manager at Charlie's Honda in Augusta.

Econo-cars like the Civic, Ford Focus, Honda Fit, Chevy Aveo and Toyota Yaris have been strong sellers for some time, Frend and other local dealers said.

But the current, dramatic shift hasn't been seen since the '70s, they noted.

National sales of the subcompact Yaris increased 46 percent in April, and the Honda Fit had a record month, according to a May 2 article in The New York Times.

That month, Ford Focus sales jumped 32 percent from a year earlier. About one in five vehicles sold in the United States in April was a compact or subcompact, a trend called a first by industry analysts, the article said.

Sales of four-cylinder engines also surpassed six-cylinder models; 42 percent of all vehicles sold that month were equipped with four-cylinder engines, according to the research firm J.D. Powers & Associates.

Car buyers are taking notice of hybrids, like the Toyota Prius. And, with that model, demand is not keeping up with supply, LeClair noted.

"There's none on the lot. We're selling them ahead. People are waiting a month or two for the Prius. We can't get the battery packs," he said.

"The Yaris and Prius have an extremely big backlog. There are only enough cars, in general, at the dealer's, to stock to two days worth of business. People are pre-selling before they get here," he said.

Yet, not everybody is buying small, he said. Some customers go from their full-sized pickup to a four-cylinder Toyota Camry that gets about 32 miles per gallon on the highway.

"A lot of people that had trucks for the family vehicle are going to the mid-sized car; those who had mid-sized are going smaller. They're not going from a big SUV to a four-seater," he said.

But the Ford Escape hybrid, a model that gets about 34 miles per gallon, usually needs to be ordered. And, so far, there is not a big demand for the Escape.

"A couple of people a month inquire. We sell 10 or 12 a year -- maybe one a month," he said. The Ford Edge, a crossover between a van and an SUV, is also moving, he said.

"Van sales are off. They don't make a van anymore," he said of models like the Windstar.