Filed under: Green, Hatchbacks, Toyota
Green is for poseurs: 50% of Prius buyers want to "make a statement"
Right now gas prices suck, and Prius sales are through the roof. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a lot of people are buying the fuel-conscious, peculiar-looking little hatch to save some money at the pump. Petrol prices aside, a recent study from CNW Marketing Research shows that over half of Prius buyers primarily want to make a statement about themselves. If you just found yourself swallowing a little vomit, all apologies. The key to purchasing a Prius versus, say, a Honda Civic hybrid, is that Toyota's gas-electric vehicle is a hybrid-only model. The Civic, like the Camry and Ford Escape, can be purchased with a run-of-the-mill gasoline-only powertrain, and the only difference between it and the hybrid model is a little badge.
In the '80s, people making a statement wore Guess jeans and Polo-branded shirts. In the '90s it was $130 Nike shoes (Umm, they had those in the '80s, too -- Ed. ), and now to show off in the new millennium, you apparently have to drive a Prius. We've noticed that the many Prius hatchbacks traveling our nation's freeways aren't exactly driving 57 mph in the right lane to optimize fuel economy. If other automakers want to make a real splash in the hybrid game, they'll have to follow Toyota's lead and make a hybrid-only vehicle that helps owners feel better about the fact that others think they're "green."
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
why not the LS2LS7? 7:44PM (7/05/2007)
I don' t really agree. I know about a dozen friends who have Priuses and almost none volunteered the fact, I just saw them in the parking lot. So I think they are expressing interest in the environment, not just in being seen as doing so.
However, today I saw a Prius with the plate "WESMUG". A wry joke I suppose?
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why not the LS2LS7? 8:08PM (7/05/2007)
Hmm. the comment system ate part of my post.
The plate read "WE(heart)SMUG" (I had heart in angle brackets before and I guess autoblog didn't like that).
Drewboy 9:17AM (7/06/2007)
"I don' t really agree. I know about a dozen friends who have Priuses and almost none volunteered the fact, I just saw them in the parking lot."
Are they married? lol
I saw a comedian named Jeff Dunham, and his wife bought a Prius. He has an SUV. She told him that seeing him driver her car once was the gayest way she'd ever seen him. He uses it to make fun of himself in his comedy tours now.
sean 10:04AM (7/10/2007)
The prius is a lie. It causes more environmental damage and costs more to drive through its entire life than a hummer. If you dont beleive it look it up. 7 or more countries are poluted before the junker is even built. Find out how much damage has been caused by mining the nickel. There is a Canadian town that is now un inhabitable because of the nickel mining for the battery. People have no clue. The only reason to drive one of these things is to make a statement. Do your homework before buying one of these lies.
tony 11:38AM (7/10/2007)
what happens to the old batteries on these cars?what kind of envorimental hazard do they have when they are discarded? is anybody addressing these issues?
curious
Why_Do_Neocons_Hate_the_Enviromnent 1:05PM (7/10/2007)
Hey Sean, put your thinking cap on! The phony baloney "analysis" you cite assumes the Prius' life will only be 109,000 miles!! That is idiotic!!
The Hummer is a POS car with lousy reliability (store plenty of roadway hazard flares in the back, you'll need 'em) and terrible gallons-per-mile. But Jesusland drivers will keep buying them and all giant SUVs...plenty of bragging rights sitting in the Cracker Barrel parking lot I guess.
The brain-dead, logic-free article you referred to has been a godsend for neocons who love to enjoy hating the Prius and all things environmental. As the saying goes, "You can lead a neocon to the facts but you can't make him think." So go run along in your Hummer for a couple of super size meals at Mickey D's with a bucket of soda to go.
Gennifer 1:57PM (7/10/2007)
I have 3 friends that each recently purchased a Prius. All three of them also own SUV's. All 3 of them still own very expensive sedans as well. All 3 live in Los Gatos, CA. which is a "Status symbol sort of town" for social climbers. What is all this telling you??????
G Money 7:45PM (7/05/2007)
All the automakers know this. Thats why both Honda AND Lexus are set to introduce hybrid ONLY models. Honda will introduce one below the civic and Lexus below the is250/350.
This really isnt news, didnt autoblog run a story about someone buying a 2001 civic ex 5sp manual and getting something like 45/47 mpg driving economically. Basically the story was showing how you could get ALMOST as good mialage while saving a substatial amount of money.
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Bill 7:51PM (7/05/2007)
It is true that Honda is introducing a hybrid-only model with unique styling. Hybrid buyers want their decision to drive a hybrid be readily visible and that is one reason why the Prius is so popular.
If you really think about it, does driving a hybrid make you cool? There are plenty of other ways to show you care for the environment including, public transportation, insulating your house, etc... The more I think about, the more I feel that hybrid owners are a bunch of yuppie geeks who shop at trader joes, use Apple computers, pay $4 for a cup of coffee, etc...
Mike G 7:58PM (7/05/2007)
Or yo yo listen up peeps: you could look at it from the supply side; even though we have record crude inventories of oil fo sho', prices are still bouncin ever higher - so the big oil companies are pimpin out the wallets of the consumers, which leads to demand destruction yo, and so the hybrids are keepin it real. I'm just sayin.
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Bill 8:09PM (7/05/2007)
Boo-yaka-sha. Yo you sees I sees what you be sayin but does that mean the oil companeez are to blame? Are they not a buizness that is in it to makes a profit? How much doos you really saves by drivin a fusion vehicle?
Enough of my Ali G impersonation. If you look at it really, a hybrid vehicle was meant for congested Japanese streets, that is why their highway mileage is worse than their city mileage. That being said, the only real hybrid that is going to make a difference is the Chevrolet Volt. To have the vehicle powered by an electric engine with the gasoline engine act as a generator is pure genius. It is my understanding that this technology is currently used in certain trains so it is not just a pipe dream.
Mike G 8:36PM (7/05/2007)
Yeah my Ali G's not so great either lol.
I'm just saying I'm amused that the big oil co.'s are indirectly promoting hybrids by manipulating gas prices so excessively. Much funnier when a rapper makes that point tho.
Dan 11:41AM (7/10/2007)
The only problem is that when these idiots see the Chevy Volt, they will not buy it or think it's "cool". To these idiots, a company like GM is an evil corporation that signifies everything they hear in the Democratic media about "big business". They did not buy the Prius to save gas or the environment or anything else, they just like to think that everyone else sees them as making an important change. It's too bad that Toyota is really no different than GM or any other auto company, they're all just trying to earn market share. Anyone who is really worried about the Environment should understand that the Economy comes first. People aren't looking for ways to eliminate pollution if they can't eat. Take someone that is scraping to get by and most likely they'll tell you they'd kill a thousand baby dolphins if it meant that they could keep their family fed and not have to worry about unemployment. Where am I going with all of this? You guessed it - BUY AMERICAN. Studies show that for every 1000 Ford, GM and Chrysler automobiles sold 33 AMERICAN jobs are created, for every 1000 Japanese Automobiles sold only 11 American jobs are created. For German automobiles, the number drops to less than 10. This does not even take into account the residual effects that these workers bring to the economy - they spend their money in America, creating more American jobs. Also, all of the profit from Japanese manufacturers goes to Japan, where it is siphoned into their economy. American profit - to Americans, where again it is spent in the American ecomony. Further more, most of the studies done on the products show that the newer model AMERICAN cars out perform their foreign competitors. Not to mention that the AMERICAN cars are more reasonably priced, especially when you take into account some of the discounts that are out there. Given this set of facts, I have trouble understanding why any AMERICAN citizen would buy a foreign car, especially if they are "trying to make a difference". If you are a Prius driver who is "trying to make a difference", please explain to me why the small amount of air pollution that you save and the 1 extra mile per gallon outweighs all of the things that I have explained here - we Americans are very curious to your response.
ToyotaUSA 1:24PM (7/10/2007)
Um, 'scuse me "Dan" (#11), but my Toyotas were built by Americans in Georgia and California in the good ol' US of A.
Many GMs are built in...Mexico.
Other than that, thanks for your fact-filled, ideology-free post...gringo. ;-)
Dan 3:34PM (7/10/2007)
Toyota USA,
If you read my comment, you'll see that it contains FACTS, unlike your spout off about my idealogy. Your Toyotas were only built in the USA so that the company could say "see, we're just as American as they are" and siphon your dollars over to Japan. The facts are the same, buy AMERICAN and you will create three times as many AMERICAN jobs. Those Toyotas that you so proudly claim are built in California and Georgia are still less than 50% American (parts and assembly). Even the cheapest GM built in Mexico has is more than 65% AMerican in parts and assembly. 90%+ of all GM, Ford and Chrysler end products sold in America are still assembled in USA. So go ahead and buy into Toyota's sales pitch of California and Georgia assembly plants (for about 10% of their American sold products), just realize that most of those parts are still foreign and the profits are still shot directly into Japan's economy.
Carlos 8:17PM (7/05/2007)
Isn't "to make a statement" how most car decisions are made? I see more BMW 3-series in my work parking lot and on the roads than Accords, and only a few of them are bought by people who care about the driving feel - the rest wanted a BMW. Most of the SUVs that were purchased in the last 15 years... same thing.
As with the 3-series and some of those SUVs, the Prius isn't a bad car because of the all the poseurs buying it.
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Kaptain75329 5:31PM (8/13/2007)
You know, I can't help but concede that this is a valid point. I admit image does factor into my car buying decisions. It's towards the bottom of the list, but it's there all the same.
Bruno 8:22PM (7/05/2007)
It took Al Gore III to give the Prius the "street cred" it deserves. 100mph!
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Mark Tisch, Salt Lake City 8:25PM (7/05/2007)
Many Prius drivers buy homes far from their workplaces so they can buy bigger homes (that consume more heat/cooling energy). They then drive Prius's on the long commute, and think they are doing something special to help the environment. It's a bunch of "feel good" B.S.
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why not the LS2LS7? 9:03PM (7/05/2007)
You're making a false equivalence. By buying a Prius, they are still saving energy over what they would if they bought a different car.
Big houses are a separate issue.
By the same argument, I could say people with small houses are just buying them so they can put more gas in their SUVs.
Neither argument is productive.