A new survey by Topline Strategy reveals some interesting insights into hybrid buyers. Many, they found, don’t simply make the hybrid premium vs. gas savings calculation as they decide whether or not to buy a Prius. The study revealed 5 types of buyers.

The study of Prius buyers between 2003 and 2007 showed that only 27% of them could be considered early adopters, people who wanted the technology and environmental benefits and were willing to pay extra for it.

Another 12% bought the Prius to be able to drive in the carpool lane, and 5% did it because they considered the Prius as an inexpensive, fun car.

But it’s the other two groups that are most interesting. 40% of people bought a Prius because it cost less than the alternative. The conventional wisdom is that buyers chose between a Prius and a car that’s about the same size and the same price. Instead, respondents said, they often picked a high-content, environmentally sensitive Prius instead of a more costly model such as a Acura TL or BMW X3.

Finally, 16% said they just calculated the whole cost-value equation differently than the experts. These buyers often keep their cars longer and drive greater distances than what is typically calculated. The result is that they feel they save money over the long  term.

Topline’s conclusion: Buying a hybrid is “a far more complex and varied” process than most realize, and attempting to forecast the future success of hybrids strictly based on how high or low gas prices go is short-sighted.

I talked to Jonathan Klein, Topline’s general partner. He’s a Prius driver, and big proponent of the coming green wave and its mainstream viability. “There’s an incredible number of people between Greenpeace activists and pickup-truck-driving steelworkers,” he says.

R.L. Polk’s hybrid registation numbers do reveal some interesting nuggets.

Californians, with 67,533 hybrid registrations, obviously top the nation at 26.5 percent share of the hybrid volume. Three of our metropoli (DMA in marketing-speak) were in the top 10 hybrid markets: 1. LA 12.2% share of US hybrid volume. 2. SF 8.1%. 9. San Diego. 2.0%.

So, is it just those yellow carpool stickers or something more? Generally, California carries about 12% of the U.S. car/truck market. That was the case in 2006, as we bought about 2 million of the 16.6 million vehicles purchased nationwide. The fact that our hybrid share is 2.5 times that penetration says something unusual Read the rest of this entry »

You read these numbers in the Mercury News on Friday, but car registrations compiler R.L. Polk put them in a press release this morning, so all the world is writing about it now.

Here’s the AP version:

U.S. sales of gas-electric hybrid vehicles rose 28 percent from 2005 to 2006, but the rate of growth is starting to slow, according to a company that analyzes automotive industry data. Read the rest of this entry »

A few somewhat interesting tidbits in this morning’s email. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says it’ll release its annual list of the greenest and meanest cars sold in America. Check http://www.greenercars.com/ on Feb. 6 for the results. In 2006, the Honda Insight hybrid and the Honda Civic GX, a natural-gas car, tied for the greenest. Dodge’s Ram SRT10 pickup was the meanest.

Cars.com put out a list of the 10 most memorable TV cars of all time. KITT from “Knight Rider,” the General Lee for “The Dukes of Hazzard” and Scooby-Do’s Mystery Machine van topped the list. Go to http://www.cars.com/ from all 10.

Finally, the 10 finalists for World Car of the Year were announced. This is a new award that requires quite a leap as few cars are sold the same way in a lot of places. Still, we all like lists. The 10: Audi Q7, Audi TT (left, sort of), Citroen C4 Picasso, Citroen C6, Fiat Grande Punto, Jaguar XK, Lexus LS 460, Mercedes-Benz CL, Mini Cooper and Suzuki SX4. Of the 10, 7 are sold in the US, and exactly zero are manufactured here.  

Yes, it’s my first 2008 model, which can’t be sold until Jan. 1, 2007. That means the one I’m driving doesn’t have a window sticker, and the pricing and the fuel economy are yet to be announced. But, this hybrid is much improved, certainly cosmetically. When Ford brought higher-mileage gas-electric hybrid technology into the Escape a few years back, the small SUV already was showing its age. This new one has a much more appealing interior, with nicely textured surfaces, better gauges and and overall sense of refinement. The exterior gets a new, buffer look, too, borrowing its bolder front end from the Explorer. Here’s the key number: In 150 miles of weekend driving, I average 30.3 mpg. Pretty good for a SUV.

Look for that headline in tomorrow’s papers. The EPA finally released its 2008 fuel-economy formula revisions, and the agency suggests the average model will see a 12% drop in its city MPG and a 8% drop in its highway MPG. Some models, especially hybrids, might see numbers that fall up to 30%. That said, expect those gas-electric cars and SUVs, like the Prius, Camry, Escape and Civic, to remain the most efficient models in their classes. Drivers have long complained about the fictional nature of the EPA’s ratings. Those complaints grew to a shriek as gas prices topped $3/gallon this summer. People were paying more (money) and getting less (per gallon) and nobody was happy. Neither the EPA nor automakers would offer up a specific model for comparison Monday, but Toyota says its Prius, which now earns a combined 55 mpg rating, might fall to the “high 40s.” My calculations, based on what the EPA offers as guidelines, says it might drop to the high 30s or low 40s.

Dave Hermance wasn’t the only person I talked to at Toyota about the Prius, but he was the most knowledgeable, most accessible, most say-it-so-I-can-understand-it person on the Japanese automaker’s US staff. He died over the weekend, flying an experimental plane. Here’s a link the AP story. I talked to Hermance a month or so ago at a CARB symposium in Sacramento. Between sessions, he got into heated discussions about plug-in hybrids, electric cars and such with passionate advocates of each technology. (He didn’t get heated, but those who sought to argue with him did.) He was steadfast in his comments. Over the past half decade or so, he helped explain how hybrids worked to an American public anxious to do something to protect the environment. He’ll be missed.

Saw this neat post on Autoblog. It’s about heavily modified Toyota hybrids — a Camry and a Highlander — being shown at the SEMA show in Vegas this week. Cool and green!

Yahoo Autos and Environmental Defense released a list of the greenest cars today. It’ll be updated as new models — not only hybrids, but natural gas, biodiesel, hydrogen and others — go on sale. Topping the list, with scores of 80 or more (it’s a 1-100 scale) are the Honda Civic and Insight, and Toyota Prius and Camry — all hybrids — and the natural-gas-powered Civic. I talked to Dan Visnick, the marketing director of Yahoo Autos, last week. He said that Yahoo Autos Green Center is at the center of two trends — green going mainstream and the explosion of social media on the Web. The new site allows users to ask questions of owners of green cars, post real-world mpg and such. While only 3% of people own an alternative-fuel vehicle, Visnick said a recent survey shows 54% want to learn about them and 42% said they might buy one in the next 2 years.  

Always a cheery task. Most folks take the weekend off, but automatic e-mail strings and push services never do. Some interesting hybrid tidbits this AM. Autobytel did something called a “snap poll” between 9/19 and 10/9 and found 23% of respondents say they own or soon will buy a hybrid. That’s up from 9% 6 months ago, and comes during several weeks of falling gas prices. And ABI, a research firm in beautiful Oyster Bay, NY, confirms that hybrids have gone mainstream. Early buyers were wealthy folks with green leanings, but ABI predicts hybrid market share in the US will grow from 1.25% in 2005 to 6% in 2013.