The Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins has this clever column ($) today in the form of a fictional letter from Toyota to owners of its popular hybrid vehicle, the Prius. The main point of Jenkins’ column is that hybrid technology is not really “green” technology at all. Rather, it’s really just an expensive option that generates large markups for Toyota and its dealers. In so doing, Jenkins notes the following about the notion that a hybrid’s supposed fuel efficiency makes up for its higher cost:
Let us assure you that the Prius remains one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. Toyota applauds your willingness to spend $9,500 over the price of any comparable vehicle for the privilege of saving, at current gasoline prices, approximately $580 a year.
And should the price of gasoline rise to $5, after 10 years and/or 130,000 miles of driving, you might even come close to breaking even on your investment in hybrid technology.
But Tom, don’t forget about the cachet of driving a Prius. Think of all the egos boosted and the fine environmental virtues broadcast by Prius purchasers. Toyota’s genius was designing a hybrid sedan that looked markedly different from the rest of its fleet. Honda simply adapted the Civic. Drivers of fuel-efficient Civic hybrids didn’t turn any heads and sales of the Civic have been disappointing. Surely prices of hybrids will go down as volumes rise. My hope is that the “virtuous” early adopters will eventually bring the prices down for unenlightened folks like myself.
I’ve thought about getting a Prius. Not because I’m some sort of raging environmentalist. Not because I want the cachet. And certainly not to save some dough. But I love gadgets. Techy stuff rules. I would love to sit in my Prius while using my Treo to control my home PC to record a television show. That would be sweet.
As it is, I can’t get there value-wise and will continue to love my Corolla. 🙂
Look for news stories in the next year or so from Prius and other hybrid owners having to replace the battery and how much it costs – multiple thousands of dollars. Shelf life is three years and the car can’t run without it, from what I understand. Lesson here is to lease the thing and let Toyota replace it when the lease expires.
I just sold my 2002 Prius. It was a great car. I bought it largely for the geek factor of the new technology, but the second biggest reason was not the mileage, but the EMISSIONS. People get so hung up on the mileage issue, but living in the DFW area, where we often have crappy air quality, the emissions are an important consideration. And make no mistake, the Civic hybrids aren’t exactly easy to find. They may not be as popular as the Prius, but people are still snatching them up.
Quite note to a previous poster: The batteries on the Prius (actually, the whole Hybrid system) are actually under warranty for 8 years/100,000 miles (at least they were on mine). I had my car for almost four years without any battery-related problems. There’s still a lot of FUD out there about these great cars.
Tom,
Interesting issue. You might also include a link to the discussion on this very topic that cropped up on my blog a couple of weeks ago.
I calculated that you would have to drive about 5,700 miles per month in a Civic Hybrid to break even, financially, with a regular Civic, at $2.50 gas. Obviously, the lower the gas price, the more miles.
I was surprised at the anger of some of my readers for pointing this out.
Here’s a direct link: http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2005/11/dont_buy_a_hybr.html
Thanks, as always, for your excellent and informative work.
Eric
Eric, thanks for the link and the kind words. From reading the comments to your post, it appears that some folks do not enjoy being confronting the fact that they have been taken to the financial cleaners while are buying “green.” ;^)
I don’t think the Houston taxpayer appreciates he is one of the ones getting the extra starch either.
“the second biggest reason was not the mileage, but the EMISSIONS. People get so hung up on the mileage issue, but living in the DFW area, where we often have crappy air quality, the emissions are an important consideration.”
The lying environmental lobby has got to you. The emissions are irrelevant, because modern automobiles have next to zero emissions, and most of that comes from cold start. When warm operating emissions is essentially zero. Why else do you think Los Angeles has clear skies these days despite even more automobiles? Modern emissions controls reduces emissions by over 99%. Buying a hybrid to reduce emissions by 99.5% is not only pointlessly costly, it’s probably not measurable from an air quality standpoint. The next time an environmentalist whines about how you could “reduce emissions by half”, point this out to them.
An Unfair Shot At Toyota
Houston blogger Tom Kirkendall writes today about Toyota’s Prius, the popular hybrid engine automobile.
His post was prompted by Wall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins’ negative piece about the Prius and hybrids in general.
Jenkins pens a f…
Sorry, but I used to live in downtown Fort Worth. Try looking up into a brown sky most summer mornings and tell me emissions are irrelevant. And when sitting in a long drive-thru line at the bank or McDonald’s, unless you shut down a regular car, it’s going to have higher emissions than my Prius did in that situation – which was zero, and without the typical inefficiencies involved in restarting a gasoline engine. It’s one thing to consider the driving-down-the-road emissions, but you’ve also got to think about the sitting-there-doing-nothing emissions.
And though LA is better, I wouldn’t exactly call it “clear skies.” Recent EPA methodology changes aside, they’re still one of the worst air pollution cities in the country (#1 on the new list).
For many years, my wife and I have had an ongoing discussion: You can see “concept cars” at auto shows, but you never seem to actually be able to buy one. After test driving a Prius, I became convinced, that at last, I really could own a “concept car” that wasn’t a totally watered down version. Yes, I am a techno-geek. I helped design the first computerized engine control system while working at Intel in the 1970’s. Jenkins article about the Prius contains a number of half truths and outright lies that merit answers:
1. NO car manufacturer makes ANY claims of mileage. They are only allowed to report the highly flawed findings of the EPA. The EPA tests cars on a dynamometer, which completely eliminates wind resistance as a mileage factor. For the record: I checked a number of web sites before buying the Prius, and I have been very pleased that the mileage has met my expectations. I get between 35-55 MPG on each tank based on the nature of the driving, use of A/C, and how lead-footed I have been. After 15000 miles, I have not gotten less than 350 miles on any 10 gal. fillup.
2. To compare the Prius to the Echo is the work of a true automotive dufus. The Prius is 3 inches wider, a foot and a half longer, 700 lbs heavier, and considerably more roomy than the Echo. The styling is the difference between a head-turner and a cartoon caricature of an econo-box. The accessories in the Prius borrow far more from Lexus than from the Echo, including the Display system, Pushbutton keyless on/off, HID headlights, Nav system. If you could equip the echo like the Prius, the price differential is more like $2500, not $9500, and for that, you get superb handling, one of the world’s most advanced transmissions, the fantastic under windshield display, and great low speed torque, thanks to the electric motor.
3. Whatever fuel is used to power the cars of the future, ethanol, vegetable oil, etc, a hybrid system will help burn that fuel more efficiently.
I’m on my second Prius. I know it’s more expensive than a comparable-sized conventional car, and I know that I’m not going to make that up in gas savings, or even gas savings plus the $700 subsidy I got from the government to buy the car, especially since I drive under 8000 miles a year. I don’t regret my decision.
This is a letter regarding Toyota’s response to the WSJ Letter. Thought you might like to see it.
James E. Press
President and Chief Operating Officer
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
19001 South Western Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
310 468-4000
November 30, 2005
To the Editor:
On November 30, Holman Jenkins took the liberty of posing as a member of Toyota Motor Corporation to write an amazingly inaccurate article for your op-ed page regarding Toyotaís hybrids.
As a Managing Officer for Toyota Motor Corporation, Iíd like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
Toyota is committed to hybrid technology because it makes sense for our customers, for our dealers, for society, and yes, for our business.
The Prius has captured minds and market share because it provides a sensible alternative for people looking for a mid-sized passenger sedan that offers twice the fuel economy and tremendous environmental benefits. Our Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX 400h SUVs offer significant fuel savings compared to the V8 SUVs people are trading in, not to mention being 80 percent cleaner for smog-forming emissions.
Mr. Jenkins used some very inventive math to try to make the case against hybrids, including saying a comparable car to the Prius costs $9500 less. Thatís just plain wrong. Iíd like to provide some different numbers that speak to the real heart of this matter ñ customer acceptance. This year, a Consumer Reports survey of more than 250,000 car owners ranked the Prius as the most satisfying vehicle, with 94 percent saying theyíd buy one again.
Another significant number is 100 million ñ thatís the gallons of gas we estimate our U.S. hybrids have saved since the Prius debuted in 2000. Thatís enough to fuel a fleet of 200,000 delivery vehicles for a year.
As much as Iíd like to take credit by saying we are brilliant marketers and have painted a green picture to sell our products, the people who purchase our vehicles know the truth ñ our cars tell the story for us. And we believe they will continue to do so, which is why weíre introducing a hybrid version of the Lexus GS next year, as well as putting a hybrid powertrain in Americaís most popular car, the Camry.
We understand that Mr. Jenkins and other naysayers will continue to target Toyota as the leader in hybrid technology because innovation and technological progress can be intimidating for some people. Thatís what the free market and free speech are about. Ultimately, consumers know whatís best for them and they will make the choice with their pocket books.
When they do, we certainly hope theyíll continue to choose one of our hybrid products.
Sincerely,
Jim Press
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. President and Chief Operating Officer
Managing Officer, Toyota Motor Corporation
As a two-Prius family who also knows several other Prius owners and who researched the car thoroughly before buying, I am amazed at the amount of misinformation out there. Some facts: New Prius owners are not paying any more in monthly payments than those who buy a similar mid-sized car but they are getting at least double the mpg’s and therefore spending much less on gas each month, yielding a net savings for these new car buyers. Far from being a “money-losing proposition,” then, the Prius does indeed save consumers money if they are planning on buying a new mid-sized car. Not to mention the tax breaks at the federal and potentially state level which more than offset the mark-up due to supply and demand — a mark-up, by the way, that is wildly overblown in the media and often does not even exist (if there is a mark-up at some dealers, it’s closer to 3,000 than 10,000 dollars).
Can’t take the time to address everything. Suffice to say that the misinformation about batteries, emissions, etc. tends to be horribly misleading at best and downright intentionally deceitful at worst. New car buyers should know, however, that not all hybrids are created equal. Some, like the Prius, get undeniably superior mileage, while others, not so much. So my comments should not be taken as an endorsement for all hybrids out there. Let the buyer beware, as always.
Jeff