|
|
More Texans Turning to Hybrids May 2005As they have for many Americans, long known as big-car lovers, times have changed for Ania Temkin.The 37-year-old South McAllen homemaker used to drive a gas-guzzling Cadillac Escalade, but made a U-turn about a month ago when she bought a Toyota Prius, the popular, fuel-efficient hybrid car that combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor. More and more McAllen drivers are making a similar choices, shunning more conventional vehicles and enduring long waiting lists for hybrid Toyotas and Hondas in a market that could see even more variety in the future. "I will never drive another car," Temkin said. "Our gas bill has really decreased immensely. I fill it up with $20 and it lasts forever. Its a great deal. Its a very smooth ride." The car came with a full tank from the dealer, but even so, she has only spent $76 on gas for the 1,800 miles she has logged in the Prius, in part taking her children to school in Edinburg. Her Prius averages about 50 or 60 miles per gallon, she said. Through April, Toyota has sold more than 156,000 Priuses in the U.S. market since introducing the car in 2000, spokeswoman Allison Takahashi said. The Prius is the best-selling hybrid at Frank Smith Toyota in McAllen, said Monte Clair, who oversees new car sales at the dealership. Toyota sends four or five of the vehicles to the dealership, which cost between $23,000 and $28,000, each month, and all are selling before they arrive, Clair said. To get on the waiting list, people deposit between $100 and $500, he said. The national average wait time for a Prius is two months, down from six months last year, said Takahashi, who attributes the waiting lists to high demand. Toyota increased production this year to 100,000 units from 47,000 last year, and the automaker expects the wait time to decrease, she said. Temkin waited two weeks before being able to purchase her silver Prius at Frank Smith Toyota, she said. The dealership has sold between 65 and 80 Priuses since it began carrying the model last year, Clair said. People who have bought them havent traded the cars in for anything else, he said. Hybrid sales have been "phenomenal," partly because of their increased fuel economy and "Toyota quality," Clair said. Power isnt a downside to the car because the Prius has more torque than most cars of its size on the market, he said. "Itll get up and go, no problem," he said. The dealership is also taking deposits on the Toyota Highlander hybrid, the first of which will arrive in about a month. As of Monday, Clark Knapp Honda of McAllen had only the Accord hybrid in stock because it has sold out of its Civic hybrids, said Aaron Banda, a sales representative at the dealership, which carries about two or three of the Accords and about six of the Civics per month. The dealership does not normally carry the Insight hybrid. "As soon as they come in, they get sold," Banda said. There is a waiting list for both the Civic and Accord hybrid models. "Weve got a lot of people interested. Its hard keeping them in stock." People from Austin and Dallas have contacted the auto seller about the cars, and dealerships in those cities offer to trade more expensive traditional cars for the hybrids because they are in such high demand, Banda said. In addition to extra gas mileage, the hybrid Accord has more horsepower than its regular version, he said. The advantages of having a hybrid vehicle are improved fuel economy and quiet running, said Albert Gomez, customer relations manager for Kent Biel Buick Pontiac-GMC in McAllen. But they take some getting used to because the gas engine shuts off when the vehicle stops to allow the electric motor to kick in. A disadvantage, Gomez said, is that "most hybrids are more expensive" than traditional vehicles. The dealership is not selling the GMC Sierra hybrid, because the vehicles are relatively new for GMC, which released them in 2004, the same year Chevrolet introduced its Silverado hybrid. General Motors first introduced its hybrid technology in commercial buses in about 10 U.S. cities, and then began the push into hybrid trucks and SUVs, Gomez said. Thats the opposite of Toyotas strategy of starting small with the Prius. The Silverado hybrid is not sold in the Rio Grande Valley but may be in 2007, said a representative of Charles Clark Chevrolet Company in McAllen. The Lexus RX 400h hybrid is not sold in the Valley either, Clair said. Boggus Ford in McAllen isnt selling the Ford Escape hybrid but may next year, according to the dealership. "The question I get asked the most is how much is my electric bill," said Temkin, the Prius owner, adding that a common misconception about hybrid cars is that they must be plugged into a wall socket to recharge. The Prius generates electricity when the brakes are applied. "The only drawback" is small trunk space, she said. But some say they have had more serious problems with the Prius than lack of suitcase space. Several people have lodged complaints about Priuses stalling at highway speeds with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some of the complaints claimed that dealerships told them the problems were caused by computer malfunctions. The complainants names are not listed on the site, however, making it difficult for the automaker to track down the owner, Takahashi said. "My daughter was driving our 2004 Toyota Prius in fast traffic when there was a complete failure of the computer system and the car shut down," wrote one of the people, who were not named on the administrations Web site where the complaints were listed. "Her life was in danger, but a policeman happened to be passing by and diverted traffic and called a tow truck." "Toyota dealer said it was a computer malfunction and could not guarantee it would not happen again," another wrote. "Very upset about this as it is a new car I paid a lot of money for." An onboard computer controls many of the Priuss functions, Takahashi said. Last year, Toyota filed two "special service campaigns" with the NHTSA because of problems with electronic control units in certain 2004 Priuses. One of the problems could lead to the transmission not operating "smoothly," according to a letter the company sent to customers. Toyota offered to "reprogram" for free the units in the more than 27,000 affected cars. Those two repair campaigns are not necessarily related to the stalling cases, Takahashi said. She said Toyota is "investigating" the issue. It is "quite possible" that people have called into a Toyota customer service center to complain about the stalling problem, but she is not sure if anyone has, Takahashi said. Those cars "that were allegedly stalling at highway speeds" might have service records, Takahashi said, but those records could not be matched to the anonymous postings to the NHTSA. Clair, the Toyota salesman, said he had not heard of any local complaints of Priuses stalling at highway speeds, and Temkin said she has not experienced any of those problems in her car. | ||
|
Hybrid Car Links
|