Quote:
Originally Posted by Stew
They just need to sell enough to be profitable. I see Hybrids getting more popular in the short term too and those that get the highest mpg for the best price will be the winner. If hybrids weren't important they wouldn't be building them. Honda, Nissan, even VW are going to ave new hybrids on the road this year to early next, and everyone will be priced Similarly to the Malibu Eco, yet offer considerably better MPG. IMHO, GM has not had much success with hybrids, but othes, not just Toyota, have or there would be no interest in building them.
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Nobody other than Toyota has had any real market success with their hybrids. By that I mean having a stand alone model selling more than 50k units, or having a trim/powertrain option on a conventional car moving 25k. And Toyota's only real success was with the Prius, every other hybrid they've sold has had 'lukewarm' sales at best. For other automakers, few have sold more than 10k units per year, most are less than 5k.
Companies are building hybrids for a number of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with selling hybrids, at least in the here and now. Often there is a ton of money being offered by their respective government in the form of research grants to develop hybrids, making it a much lower risk investment for the OEM. They also use them as a 'greenwashing' ploy, simply to say 'hey,we have hybrids too!'. They're also presented to draw people into showrooms as a halo car, but then folks will drive away with something more conventional. Think Volt vs Cruze, or Insight vs Civic. And lastly, by building hybrids now, they're learning things about them and how to build them better so that if and when they
do become popular, they won't be left behind.