Earth Equity News

The Prius Starting to Set a Trend. By Karey Wutkowski, Reuters, April 8, 2008. "Toyota's Prius, with a list price of $21,100 and fuel consumption of 45 miles per gallon, commanded 51 percent of the U.S. hybrid market in 2007. Now the No. 1 Japanese automaker is considering extending the Prius line-up -- effectively making it a brand on its own. GM, meanwhile, is focusing on its all-electric Chevrolet Volt in a bid to create its own 'halo' car. Although GM will not sell the Volt until at least 2010, it has already started featuring it in TV ads... Honda, which beat Toyota to the U.S. market with the Insight hybrid in 1999 but withdrew it in 2006, is planning a more economical hybrid for 2009 that takes aim at the Prius. Honda's Civic hybrid, at $22,600 and with the same fuel consumption as the Prius, is the No. 2 hybrid but was outsold by the Toyota vehicle by more a more than 5-to-1 margin in 2007. Hybrids... made up just 3 percent of U.S. sales in 2007. But growth was 40 percent from the previous year, and there is plenty of room for that to continue, given that they account for just 0.3 percent of registered vehicles. Gas-thirsty SUVs, by contrast, account for more than 14 percent of vehicles on the road."