Posted on 04/13/2006 4:00:22 AM PDT by saganite
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn Says He Feels Vindicated That Hybrids Could Be Seeing a Sales Slowdown
NEW YORK (AP) -- Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday he feels vindicated that hybrids could be seeing a sales slowdown, since he has repeatedly warned that it is too early to fully back the technology.
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Ford Motor Co. said last week it would offer zero-percent financing on the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids nationwide. Ghosn said hybrids already are money-losers for automakers because of the expense of developing them, so to put incentives on top of that indicates hybrid sales are slow.
"At least admit I was the only guy saying, 'Watch out, the consumer decides, don't be excited about it,'" Ghosn said in an interview with reporters at the New York Auto Show. "I have some kind of satisfaction of being a little bit right on this one."
Ford Americas President Mark Fields said Wednesday that Ford decided to expand the incentives because they had proven popular in Washington and San Francisco, where they were first released. Ford doesn't break out its hybrid Escape sales from traditional Escape sales, but Fields said March was the hybrid Escape's best month since it was introduced last fall.
Ghosn said some consumers are finding hybrids don't save enough gas to justify their extra expense. Hybrids run alternately on gasoline or electricity. He said vehicles running on diesel or ethanol might hold more promise.
Still, Nissan is on track to release a hybrid version of the Nissan Altima sedan later this year. Ghosn said the product makes business sense because of California's air quality regulations.
"I didn't say I didn't believe in it. I said it's too early," he said.
J.D. Power and Associates predicts hybrids will make up 1.5 percent of sales this year, up only slightly from the same period last year even though there were more hybrid models on the market.
J.D. Power predicts hybrids will make up nearly 5 percent of the market by 2013. That's greater than current levels but far less than the 20 to 30 percent some analysts have predicted.
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Hybrids are another liberal promise --- meaning lie.
No doubt hybrids were overhyped. Still it is interesting to see some sort of new technology bieng developed and I was hopeful when they started producing hybrids in a mini-SUV form. Hybrids may work well for some urban dwellers but if we've learned anything we should have learned that a one-size fits all solution in automobiles never works.
I suspect sales will increase over the next few months. Gas prices are at $3 per gallon, and the it's not even summer yet.
I've been looking for an article which was posted here about a new technology Ford wants to put on their F-150 pickups in 2008. It uses hydraulic pistons to compress a gas which can be used for stop and go driving. There were some pretty spectacular claims, like 60 miles to the gallon.
Autoblog reader Brent drew our attention to a web site, called New Tech Spy, that claims Ford's F-150 will soon come with the Hydraulic Launch Assist system first seen on the Mighty F-350 Tonka introduced at the 2002 North American International Auto Show. And while it was likely always Ford's hope to put the system on its F-series trucks, this is the first outside confirmation that we've been privy to.
At an alleged 60 mpg, Hybrid Launch Assist would not only reinvent the pickup truck market, it'd likely turn the industry on its ear altogether.
The HLA system is all about storing the energy that vehicles normally lose during deceleration, taking that energy, storing it hydraulically, and using it again when needed. The key to the technology is instead of storing the energy in batteries (as with most regenerative braking systems on conventional hybrids), the storage is hydraulic, which can be up to three times more efficient than nickel metal hydride storage. New Tech Spy says we should see the HLA Ford F-150 in its 2008 lineup.
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/14/ford-f-150-to-debut-with-hydraulic-hybrid-system/2
I was at several used car lots yesterday looking around. One dealer had 3 hybrids , practically new, only a few miles on them ,in his used car lot and didnt seem to be able to give them away.
Here's a recent post on FR comparing the cost to build, drive and dispose of vehicles and the claim is the Prius costs more than a Chevy Tahoe if the entire life cycle of the vehicle is analyzed.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1612769/posts
Volkswagen turbo-diesel gets a legitimate 45 mpg and NO publicity. Hybrids are more complex and get 33-34 mpg, and get a ton of publicity. They also cost more, despite being heavily subsidized, and the problem of battery replacement and disposal has never been adequately addressed.
The keyword is: ALLEGED. So far, these systems have not measured up to their expectations.
I've wondered if there was more info out there on this but I haven't found any. Do you have any other background on this technology and why do you say it doesn't measure up?
Depends on the hybrid. Our Toyota Prius does much, much better than the Ford or Mercury hybrids (45 to 50 mpg), which is probably why the Prius is still selling well.
I don't have the data in front of me, but let's say the F150 gets 10mpg.
I could see a regenerative braking technology, which is basically what this is, increase mileage to, say, 12mpg.
In order to break 60mpg on a F150, you'd have to have a regenerative braking system that has more than 600% efficiency!
I don't think that's possible, alas :-(.
D
I think the F-150 gets closer to 20 mpg than 10. If you speculate a 20% increase in mileage that would be less than what the electric hybrids promise (stress on the word promise) and the claim is this is more efficient than electric. I asked another poster who said there were problems with this technology for some insight but nothing so far. It's an interesting idea.
Wife and I had to buy a new car last month. We thought about the hybrids, but with a price 25-40% higher than a conventional vehicle, we dropped the idea. It is interesting technology, but if the automakers want to sell it, they need to ge the price in line with regular cars. Otherwise, the fuel savings just aren't worth it. And we avoided adding to the smug cloud.
The Prius owners I've talked to have mostly indicated they're getting in the high thirties, the Honda Hybrid in the low thirties. The Prius definitely has the best reputation. I test drove a Honda Inbred, and it was kind of like riding a sewing machine.
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