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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

HYBRID—Car Dealers Can’t Fill Hybrid Orders

With gas hovering around $2 per gallon, Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius sedans are getting noticed all of a sudden. They’re sleek, they get great gas mileage (more than 60 mpg) and they don’t cost much. So if you want one of the so-called hybrid cars, get in line. “We have people waiting for the car for three or four months,” said Tom Palmer, Internet sales manager at Toyota of North Hollywood. In an effort to test the potential market for the half-electric motor and half-gasoline engine vehicle, Toyota is trying to control as many of the elements that go into buying one as it can. Customers can only order a Prius online, then they pick it up at a local dealer. There is a set price $20,450 that has little to do with market forces and no options that would make the car more or less attractive to the consumer. Sam Butto, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., said this allows the company to monitor its sales and eliminates the impact a dealer’s sales person could have on the buyer. Not surprisingly, interest in the Prius has been intense ever since the car went on the market last July. “If it weren’t for the gas crisis, we probably wouldn’t be getting so many inquiries,” said Robert Metz, director of VIP sales at Keyes Toyota in Van Nuys. In the last two months, Keyes has sold five cars, after several months when it only mustered about one sale a month. Keyes has sold 15 cars since July: not exactly a boom, but sales are growing. “It’s a long way from our best-selling car, the Corolla, but it’s getting a lot of people talking,” he said. Palmer said, “We’ve sold about 60 cars since it came out last July and there’s definitely a lot of interest.” And, Palmer estimates, there are about 50 people on a four-month waiting list to get the new car. J.D. Cablinger, fleet manager for Toyota of Hollywood, said he gets Valley customers who come in wanting to purchase the car and fast. “They want to pay a premium, but we tell them that it can’t be done,” he said. The dealership has 135 people on its waiting list. It has already turned down several companies and governmental agencies, including the city of Los Angeles, that want several for their fleets. “Toyota has a strict rule that the car should be sold to individuals only. They want to build the market for it,” he said. And there’s no horse trading allowed either. “Some people think they can negotiate the price, but that’s not going to happen,” Cablinger said. “The car costs $20,450. There’s no negotiating.” Palmer, of Toyota of North Hollywood, said Toyota is selling the vehicles for about $6,000 less than they cost to produce. Butto, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., said it is true that they are being sold below cost, but that the $6,000 estimate is high. “The Prius is a business investment,” he said. “We foresee making a profit in the near future. The demand has been really great.” Bruce Williams, an accountant from Mission Hills, is one of those who waited three months for his new Prius. “I can’t say enough about this car,” said Williams, who said the escalating cost of fuel was his incentive. “It’s nothing like I’ve ever driven. “It didn’t make sense to have a regular car with those gas prices.” Others like Jennie Smith, of Studio City, say the car’s low emissions were the biggest selling point for her. “The environment’s always been a big issue for me, so it’s nice to have a car that helps.” But while the Prius is getting all the attention here, in Europe it’s losing the battle with the Volkswagen Lupo, a small four-passenger sedan that uses a high-tech diesel engine that has reached 90 miles per gallon in tests. Ed “Redwood” Ring, an auto expert with Ecoworld.com, said the Lupo could compete with hybrid cars in America because of its low emissions. But others say the Lupo’s tiny size and austere appearance would not play well with U.S. consumers. So far, Volkswagen has no plans to market the Lupo here. Toyota already has sold 1,491 Priuses in the Los Angeles area, about 14 percent of the 10,308 sold in the U.S., Butto said. But an increase in production is not likely, Butto said, because the Prius comes from one plant in Japan with a capacity to build 40,000 vehicles per year, and only 12,000 of those are targeted for the U.S. under its marketing strategy. “So, until they can raise the capacity level of the plant, we’re pretty much stuck at 12,000 for the United States,” he said, noting that international sales of the car have been sluggish. Honda’s version of the hybrid, the two-seat Insight, is not as popular as the Prius which seats four, but it has gained its own niche in the market with about 5,000 cars sold so far, Honda officials said. A number of celebrities have taken to the hybrids, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio, who owns two Priuses, and Ed Begley Jr., who tools around the Valley in one. While the hybrids’ popularity has grown, they are still a long way from becoming best sellers in a market that continues to gobble up gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. So far, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG have no hybrid cars in the U.S. market. However, they all say they plan to test their own markets for hybrid cars by 2003. Toyota officials say it began building the Prius for the Japanese market in 1997, in response to an energy crisis and recession that preceded events in the U.S. While electric cars have been around for some time, they can only be driven for about 90 miles before they must then be recharged for at least eight hours, making them impractical for many drivers, Butto said. Toyota believes its hybrid cars are the next best thing to a practical and fully electric automobile. The Prius’ electric motor provides the main power to the car, which is supplemented by a four-cylinder gasoline engine. “I love this car,” Cablinger said. “You turn it on and the computer comes to life and gets you a ‘ready’ light, then you can go. You start out on electric power, then when its battery gets low, it switches to gasoline and it does it all automatically.” Hybrids like the Prius and Insight combine electric motors with gas-powered engines and can run on either system. They get anywhere from 42 to 67 mph, depending on whether it’s city or highway driving. Eduardo Medrano, Toyota vehicle training specialist, said the Prius’ main attraction is its high performance and simplicity.

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