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Updated: April 8, 2012
Hybrid Price Wars Coming Soon
Editor's Note - This article is going to be updated, but serves for historical and research purposes now. For a recent article on hybrid car cost-effectiveness, check out Citi Study – Hybrids and Plug-ins 7.3 percent marketshare in 2020
When it comes to humans, change is the most constant force in the Universe. 100 years ago humans traversed the planet on horses, camels, and donkeys. Today, we use automobiles and
airplanes.
As automobiles have evolved, they have changed greatly, but the internal combustion engine has always ruled. That is; however, beginning to change.
Electric cars, hybrid cars and fuel cell cars are already on the road today. While electric vehicles still fall a bit short of consumer expectations, and fuel cell vehicles are ridiculously expensive, hybrid vehicles are just right.
Just five years ago, most Americans knew very little, if anything, about hybrids. Today, the far majority of Americans are not only aware of hybrid automobiles, they believe that hybrids are the future, and they are willing to buy a hybrid, if not for the costs, according to a recent Polk Study.
While I agree that there are issues with hybrid vehicle costs, I think the Toyota Prius hybrid is a vehicle well worth the money. In fact, I think ALL hybrids are worth the price. Sure the costs of knowing that you are helping develop a new technology, that you are helping clean the environment, that you are helping reduce foreign oil dependency, are not easily measured. Still, for those that are deeply concerned about such issues, the additional costs of hybrid technology are well worth the price.
Still, the average American is mostly focused on price, which means that costs must go down for hybrids to successfully compete with conventional vehicles. This is on the verge of happening.
Already, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe has ordered engineers to reduce the costs of hybrid technology by 50 percent according to USA Today. Such a move would make buying a Toyota Highlander hybrid, instead of a conventional Highlander, much easier for the average buyer. With the Camry hybrid and as many as 10 new Toyota hybrids soon reaching market, hybrid costs will be extremely important.
But it isn't just comparing Toyota hybrids to conventional Toyota vehicles that will be important. The new Honda Civic hybrid, for example, is set to provide a real challenge to the most popular hybrid, the Prius. According to early reports, the second generation Civic hybrid will be more powerful, more fuel efficient, and better styled than the previous Civic hybrid.
Honda hybrids are not Toyota's only challenge either. Essentially every major automaker is now developing hybrid technology. This will eventually lead to better and cheaper hybrid parts, such as batteries, as more and more automobile suppliers begin developing this technology.
Additionally, hybrid technology will evolve. Already Honda anticipates that it will be able to challenge Toyota hybrid pricing because its hybrid system is simpler than Toyota's. Thus Toyota will strive to simplify its hybrid powertrain, or to make it more powerful and more fuel efficient than Honda's to justify the price difference. Or, perhaps, the next Prius will be a plugin-biodiesel-electric hybrid vehicle.
Inevitably, hybrid vehicle competition will lead to price wars, and it will help end foreign oil dependency while protecting the environment. What more could consumers ask for?
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