Hybrid Hype (hint: it's not going away)
With Toyota beating the hybrid drum relentlessly to the rhythm of a nation discovering the luxury of economy and the pretense of green, the hybrid hype isn't going away anytime soon. Unfortunately.
I was out this weekend doing some research and I stopped in at Santa Monica Toyota to check out the 2008 Highlander SUV based on the new Camry platform. The salesman didn't bother me until I asked him a question: Is this the only '08 Highlander you have? The answer was "no" and that they had a few on the lot, but they had more coming in.
I wanted to check out the new seating arrangement Toyota dubs "center stow" second row seats and the third row seats -- a first in the Highlander. The middle "seat" in the second row of the new Highlander pulls out and stows in a cubby hole under the front seats' center console. I don't know who is sitting in this middle seat, but it has to be a very young child or a dwarf. And the third row is not for adults either. The third row is only for small, young children. There is practically no leg room or foot well depth for an adult.
But that's not the story here. The story is that Matt, my sales associate, didn't even think I'd be interested in the Highlander -- he apologized that they didn't have the Highlander Hybrid yet but that they would be coming in a month or so and that they were taking orders for them now!
I knew that the hybrids were coming a bit later than the gasoline-only Highlanders. I wasn't even thinking about seeing the Hybrid -- it will look the same as the non-hybrid Highlander. Who cares? But people care. And the story is the hybrid fever in Santa Monica. So Matt and I chatted a bit about this sea-change in consumer tastes.
Inside the showroom was a "pimped" Prius. This isn't the first time I've seen a Prius dressed up with expensive aftermarket add-ons. After all, this is LA and anything and everything is done to excess. This Prius had a nice wood steering wheel that was added for a whopping $995 to the sticker. Other extras were an interior wood trim package, dark-tint windows and a Lo-Jack security system. At least the dealer had the sense not to add huge chrome wheels and tires that would have defeated much of the purpose of the lightweight wheels and low-resistance tires that are part of the reason the Prius achieves great fuel economy.
That Prius was getting a lot of attention from an older gentleman with his trophy wife. She loved it and wanted it. I'm sure they bought it after I left.
And why wouldn't they buy it? It was only around $3,000 over the top price of a Prius with a Package 6 (top) option. I was in The People's Republic of Santa Monica -- a city known for environmental activism, rich people and the shiny veneer of "green". Matt proudly told me that they sold over 120 Priuses last month! That's four a day. My guess is that the lonely Chevy dealer a bit further east on Santa Monica Blvd would love to sell that many cars in a year.
It's sad to note that another GM dealer in town has closed its doors. Albertson Chevrolet on the corner of Sepulveda and Washington in Culver City closed on July 1 after sixty years of business at the same location. Apparently the value of the real estate is more than the value of the franchise -- at least here in LA.
I had visited Albertson a couple years ago to check out the 2006 C6 Corvette with the six-speed automatic and steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. I was alone in the showroom. No sales staff in sight. No one bothered me. I walked in, looked around and walked out. In my 10 minutes there, I didn't see another customer or an employee! Maybe it was a slow day.
There is some good news to report for GM. Someone must have been reading my complaints about the lack of Saturn dealers in the LA metro area. There were none until recently. While I was out in Santa Monica last weekend, I stumbled upon a new Saturn dealer at 1601 Wilshire Blvd on the site of what used to be Hornburg Jaguar's Santa Monica location. Hornburg relocated to a new facility it built at 3020 Santa Monica Blvd so it would have more room for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands and be on the same street as most of the other car dealers in Santa Monica. Only W.I. Simonson Mercedes-Benz retains its massive presence on Wilshire.
I'm thrilled to have a Saturn dealer in LA Metro. Finally. At least if a friend wants to test drive or buy a Saturn, they won't have to go to Saturn of the Valley (Galpin) in North Hills or Saturn of Torrance on Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance. GM as invested lots of money in Saturn to turn it into the US branch of its German subsidiary, Opel AG. Saturn has some decent new products and even a couple hybrid models. Now that it has a dealership in Green Santa Monica, it may have a fighting chance of gaining sales in the all-important LA market. I wonder who owns the franchise.
Mark Richen, the LA-based Automotive News bureau chief, believes the hybrid hype is here to stay. In an editorial this week, Mark says that in the US, hybrids have the high hand over the promise of high-mileage clean diesel engines that are slow in coming to the US market. He had just tested a 2008 Mercedes E320 Bluetech diesel and he wasn't overwhelmed with its 30 mpg real world fuel economy. What happened to the EPA's 35 mpg highway? I'm surprised that he had a hard time finding diesel fuel as in the LA Metro corridor that runs along Santa Monica Blvd from the beach to where it merges with Sunset in Silver Lake, I find ultra-low sulfur diesel is readily available. I'd sure rather drive a Mercedes, BMW or VW diesel than a Toyota hybrid refrigerator!
But the he thinks that the hybrid mindset is going to be hard to shake in the US and he may be right. Toyota is by far the leader with an 80+% hybrid market share in the US. GM will be coming on strong with its upcoming two-mode hybrid trucks and SUVs. Chrysler is even planning a hybrid version of its Hemi V8 in 2009. Honda will add a hybrid gas-electric sports car shortly -- possibly wearing the hallowed CRX badge.
We at ACarisNotARefrigerator.com maintain that LA sets automotive trends for the whole country. Toyota has already doubled sales of the Prius this year and with the new "entry level" cheap ($21,000) Prius coming soon as a 2008 model, that pace seems destined to accelerate even faster. And how strange is it that the Santa Monica Toyota dealer just assumes that any customer that comes in to look at the new Highlander automatically wants the hybrid version?
There is no sign that the hybrid hype is going away. It's just going to get worse. I'm still holding out hope for a diesel renaissance. However, I'm very disappointed that Mercedes-Benz wasn't able to get its E320 Bluetech diesel into California as a 2008 model as promised. I called Mercedes to ask what happened. The representative couldn't tell me what happened, but she told me that they are "hoping" for a 2009 California introduction. Does this mean that BMW's X5 3.0d isn't going to be legal in California either? Will VW's new TDI models promised in January 2008 be 50-state legal as promised? I don't know the answer to that question either but I'm getting a sinking feeling that we won't get them here in California.
As an auto enthusiast, my choice for fun, torque, rear drive and high fuel economy is a clean and lean German diesel-powered passenger car. I can't afford a Tesla -- which for enthusiasts is the green car of choice. It's built and engineered by Lotus for Tesla. It's a ZEV -- zero emissions vehicle -- as it only runs on electricity. We know it's fast and fun. It's just that little problem of a $98k sticker plus $5k in options that's a killer. I'll take a BMW 335d for half the price, thank you very much! I just don't think BMW is going to grant my wish anytime soon.
Hybrid-hype is alive, well and spreading from the coasts to the heartland. I think it may be unstoppable in the US.
