Dealers Report Hybrid Shortages, Waiting Lists

Automotive dealerships are reporting that they have waiting lists for hybrid vehicles. The wait times range from weeks to months, depending upon the model and the location of the dealership. Dealers also report that customer flexibility can shorten the wait for the popular vehicles. The Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid are in particularly high demand, with some customers waiting as many as six months for the opportunity to buy a Toyota Prius.

According to a story in the Boston Globe, the wait is the result of sudden demand for the vehicles combined with manufacturing problems. Supply materials needed for the construction of hybrid vehicles are not being delivered to the assembly plants in a timely way. Additionally, completed vehicles are not being delivered to the dealerships fast enough to meet customer demands.

The difficulties are taxing all of the hybrid manufacturers. GM and Toyota are struggling with battery supply problems for their hybrid vehicles. Toyota has not been able to produced enough batteries to fulfill the demand for the Prius. GM has spent most of the 2008 calendar year replacing defective batteries in its Saturn Aura and Vue models. As a result, new production for those models and the Chevy Malibu hybrid have been minimal.

Toyota plans to ship 180,000 Priuses to the US this year, the same number of vehicles it shipped in 2007. The company has announced that it plans to sell as many as one million hybrid vehicles worldwide by 2011. The company is also in talks with GM to produce the Prius in California at a GM facility.

Hybrid vehicles carry a higher sticker price than conventional models, and it is unclear how long hybrid drivers will have to wait to see a payoff in terms of fuel savings. The Honda Civic Hybrid has a 42-mpg rating and a base sticker price of $22,600 while its conventional counterpart has a 29-mpg rating and a base sticker price of $15,010. At $4 per gallon and 12,000 miles per year, the hybrid owner can expect to save about $515 per 12,000 miles in fuel costs, giving the hybrid a break-even point of nearly 15 years.

Source: Boston Globe, AP