[thechat] NEVs: Cutting car usage in WA

[Martin]

On Mon, 19 May 2003, seb potter wrote:

> Martin wrote:
>
> >In other news, I noticed at the weekend that Toyota are selling a hybrid
> >petrol/electric car:
> >http://www.priusenvy.com/
> >http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car9.htm
> >
> Wow, I'm surprised you haven't seen or heard of the Prius before,

Well if you think about the normal communication channels that motor mfrs
use to inform the car-buying public about their range:
1) Advertising (TV & Print)
2) TV shows like TopGear or 5th Gear
3) Toyotal dealer Showrooms
4) General purpose car sites like http://www.jamjar.com
then Toyota have done everything but draw my attention to it.

If you add to that the info that company car schemes give to their
members, you'd expect low-emissions vehicles to be right at the top of the
screaming for attention pile (note to furrners: the UK taxes company cars
based on emissions). But no, nothing again.

Yes, it's on the Toyota site, but I would suggest that that's a "more
detail about cars already on your shortlist" channel.

The only reason I heard about the Prius is cos we were looking at a
Corolla Verso, and the dealership gave us a pricelist for the entire
range.

> The new 2004 Prius is even cleaner than the current model, and (I
> believe) is classified as a "partial zero emission" vehicle. When it's
> running in urban mode (which is most of the time) it's totally electric.
> The petrol engine only gets turned on to recharge the batteries when
> they get low.

I think my co. car lease is up next year - Prius has to be on my shortlist
now, adding to the A2 that's already on it.

Cheers
martin


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