GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post

lars-ss · #31 (**permalink**) 01-16-2006, 07:29 AM

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business....1bd8f7db.html

Let's hope this reporter is VERY misinformed. This article says Toyota will be "loading up the Camry Hybrid" and selling it for around $30K. That would be a BIG mistake, Toyota !! You better put that Camry price at around $26K if you know what's good fer ya !!!

Quote:

No price has been announced for the Camry hybrid, but consumers can expect to see a list price beginning at nearly the same as that of the Accord hybrid — about $30,000 — because the two are expected to be in close competition and to be similarly equipped.

With the hybrid, Honda added just about every option you can buy on an Accord to help its profitability.

Selling a stripped-down Accord hybrid would have limited any profit the automaker might have realized. Hybrid technology is still very expensive, and automakers already selling hybrids are having a hard time making a profit on them.

By loading the Accord with costly options, such as leather interior and even a high-tech navigation system, Honda can charge up to $33,000 for one and at least make some money on the accessories. Toyota is expected to do the same with the Camry.

Both automakers learned a hard lesson with their first hybrids — the two-seat Insight hatchback and five-passenger compact Civic sedan from Honda and the five-passenger Prius hatchback from Toyota, whose first version was a compact, but now is a midsize.

Analysts say neither automaker makes much profit, if any, on those cars, whose prices begin in the low-$20,000s. Toyota was said to have lost $15,000 per vehicle when sales of the Prius began in 2000, but now it claims to be making at least a small profit on each sale.