Hold the phone a second MartinJLM. Planetary transmissions have app. 1/3 the moving parts of a "normal" transmission and the engine gets used substantially less for the same miles, unless maybe Al Gore's boy is driving it. This translates to fewer repairs doesn't it? Anyway, I believe the Prius and Civic hybrids repair records will bear this out. I have thought Toyota should go to a maintenance schedule similar to aircraft engines and use hours of operation for service interval determinations, rather than miles.

As for the repairs - if you build a new car from the parts house it costs about 5 times the pre-assembled cost. Somebody's making money on that and the manufacturer has to attract and keep dealers. Repair income is certainly a piece of that because they sell the replacement parts. Takei is showing indirect support to his selling force since they also repair the vehicles (and make money doing it). I don't know about any other dealers but here in Texas most Toyota dealers are subsidiaries of Gulf States Toyota. They are not owned by Toyota (unlike most of the rest of the country), but surely they make a significant amount of revenue off of parts and repairs too. My bet is that internally Toyota is telling its dealers "you have 5 years to get ready for less income from parts/repairs", as they plan hybrid versions of all offerings.

Finally, the point is that hybrids and PHEVs are inherently more reliable, not that any manufacturer would make a car less reliable to make money. The repair money comes from the inputed difference between the two. If I had a dealership I would not like losing revenue and/or profit no matter what the cause, so I don't blame them for not liking it. I just don't agree with them - I think the money should stay in my pocket. And with my Prius it has so far.

Alden Bowles
2005 Toyota Prius II HSD