http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/...rid.php?page=1
Quote:
By Micheline Maynard
Published: July 4, 2007
. . .
More than half of the Prius buyers surveyed this spring by CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Oregon, said the main reason they purchased the car was that "it makes a statement about me."
Only a third of Prius owners cited that reason just three years ago, according to CNW, which tracks consumer buying trends.
. . .
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What a clever marketing approach, insulting Prius buyers while ignoring the Prius performance. As long as anyone in Detroit continues to believe this nonsense, they will continue to decline.
There are many engineering reasons for building a dedicated hybrid that includes:
- advanced materials
- electrically driven AC and power accessories
- improved aerodynamics
- improved suspension
- electric driven water pump
- exhaust turbo generator
These are real engineering issues and hiding a hybrid in the shape of out-dated, inefficient, gas-only vehicles doesn't make a lick of sense. Yet curiously, engineering, designing for function remains beyond the understanding of these intellectual fossils. So they revert to insults, as if that will bring back customers.
It is more likely they are using insults to try and keep their remaining customers in-line. But as we used to say in the Marines, money talks and bovine fecal matter walks.
Bob Wilson