Gals and Guys who know hybrids and know how important they are;
There is a man and a company who is making news with a serious "anti-hybrid" agenda. The man's name is Art Spinella, and he is the president of CNW Research, the company which recently put out the "dust to dust energy usage" analysis which delcared that a Hummer uses less energy dust to dust than a Prius.
One problem with his data: He assumed a 300,000 mile life for the Hummer and only a 100,000 mile life for the Prius. This means Priuses are getting built and destroyed at a 3 to 1 ratio of the Hummer - so of course it will use more energy in that false scenario !!!
He is now continuing his anti-hybrid propaganda. Here is the latest from Forbes website:
http://www.forbesautos.com/news/feat...n-hybrids.html
Quote:
But purchase-intent data from CNW Marketing Research indicates that consumers might be losing interest in hybrids.
The price premium that consumers are willing to pay for gas/electric hybrids and the number of car-shoppers willing to consider buying a hybrid have both been dropping this year. CNW research shows that the average premium a new-car buyer is willing to pay for a hybrid peaked in the second half of September 2005 at $3,142. It has been declining ever since. The most recent figures from May put the average premium consumers are willing to pay for a hybrid at $1,957.
High fuel prices drove increases in the price premiums, Spinella said. The decline is likely a result of families having built higher gas prices into their household budgets and the availability of other fuel-efficient vehicles.
The number of new-car buyers willing to consider buying a hybrid vehicle peaked in the second half of November 2005 at 39 percent of those surveyed by CNW. As of May, that figure is down to 22 percent and it's certain that even fewer are actually buying hybrids. "Only about 60 out of a thousand people who consider a hybrid actually buy one," Spinella said. "To give you a reference point on that: Of every thousand people who consider a Toyota Camry Hybrid, about 350 buy them."
This reduced interest is one factor driving incentives for hybrid cars. While a year ago there were virtually no dealer incentives being offered on any hybrid model, according to CNW data, incentives for hybrids are rising quickly. Average out-the-door incentives (which include cash and other deals) in July 2006 for the Toyota Prius were $1,100; $1,400 for the Honda Accord Hybrid; $800 for the Honda Civic Hybrid; $1,600 for the Ford Escape Hybrid; and $1,900 for the Mercury Mariner Hybrid.
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I know lots of hybrid owners, and none of them are getting any "out the door incentives" like Mr. Spinella describes. I'd like him to do some REAL RESEARCH and FIND some of those hybrid buyers who are getting these incentives. They DO NOT EXIST !!!!
What about the sales number for Hybrids? Still UP UP UP, Mr. Spinella !!! This man has an anti-hybrid agenda, and he has a way to get publicity, and he will be hurting the hybrid car movement.
This is bad for EVERYONE.
I encourage each of you to Google his data reports, and look for websites and forums where people are BELIEVING his crap data, and refute it.
He is being paid by someone to give hybrids an ongoing black eye. He talks up GM a lot, so it may be them. They may be tired of Toyota getting all the hybrid kudos and have hired him as a "hybrid assassin."
Let's not let him get away with this crap !! Let's refute him left and right, because he is flat wrong, and this is hurting the hybrid movement.
Thanks !!!