http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/07/14/...vey/index.html

 

All of a sudden 425 people represent "the public" ... hehe

 

In the three years or so that hybrids have been around in any number, already HALF of respondents now consider them a serious choice.

That is an amazing statistic. It took DVD closer to ten years to gain significant consumer interest.

 

I don't understand how CNN could actually publish something like this. 425 respondants... online??? Apparently the questionaire was misleading, too:

Whoever wrote the poll didn't do their research.

 

Yeah. Funny how the Accord hybrid V6 puts out less horsepower than the regular accord hybrid V6 even though they are the same engine.

 

Huh?

 

I think Tbaleno's being facetious, Jason...


Anyway, to expound on EricGo's post - DVD would be considered a 'discretionary' expense, compared to a personal transportation device, perhaps ? Not to mention that consumers were likely reticent to have to update / replace their existing VHS media libraries, you originally couldn't record on DVD, etc, etc.

But most people have a vehicle / fuel as a 'necessary' expense; since they don't have a 'choice', they want to reduce that expense as much as possible (especially as the price of fuel has climbed in the last two years)

It all boils down to finances, in the end, for many people.

 

Yeah, and right now with gas prices still very low there's not very much incentive for people to reduce their use of fuel over continuing to use the same amount of fuel and not have to buy a new, more expensive car. Higher gas prices, or road tax/insurance costs based on carbon emissions are the things that will get people cutting back on choosing guzzlers.

 

Hi Mark,

I mentioned DVD as an example of tech that was a clear leap in tech quality, yet still took a decade for joe consumer to consider. There are many other examples. Three years from exotic to mainstream is *really* fast.

If people bought cars with money as the overiding consideration, anything other than a Honda Civic or a Toyota corolla would be a rare bird. People *easily* spend twice as much on cars as they have to. That is the discretionary part

 

EricGo - Agreed, and good point. We could easily go from here to the "car as status symbol", or the "multi-car individual" (what, is is 2.x cars for everyone in the US now ?) But we won't - there are plenty of other places to research that.

The only quibble I'd have in your statement is 'mainstream' - < 1% of car *sales*, I wouldn't consider mainstream - I'd like to see a higher percentage than that (30% ? higher ?). Mainstream in 'consideration' / 'awareness' ? We're there, I think