I’ve been seeing a lot more Priuses on the road these days, have you?
Toyota U.S.A. announced the sale of the 1 millionth Prius. Last month, they hit another benchmark: the sale of 3 million Priuses worldwide.
That’s nothing compared to the 28 million vehicles sold each year, but with fuel prices rising, that number is bound to rise rapidly. The Prius uses less than half the gas of typical cars – it gets an average mileage rating of 50 miles per gallon.
And while the average car emits 430 grams of carbon per mile, the Prius emits 178 grams of carbon per mile.
The Prius has become synonymous with the word "hybrid" and accounts for over 60% of all hybrid car sales this year.
Toyota licenses the synergy hybrid drive system used in the Prius to other automakers. The Ford Fusion Hybrid and Lincoln MKZ deliver around 40 mpg because of the technology.
13 other auto brands now sell hybrids, but the Prius still tops the EPA list of the Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles for 2011. It’s been named the Best Overall Value of the Year for nine years in a row by IntelliChoice, and has the highest owner loyalty of any mid-size vehicle for four of the last five years according to R.L. Polk. 97% of Priuses sold since 2000 are still on the road.
Since it was introduced in the U.S. in 2000, compared to the average conventional car, the Prius has saved Americans over 881 million gallons of gas, $2.19 billion in fuel costs, and 12.4 million tons of CO2 emissions.
A Prius mini-van goes on sale later this year, and in early 2012, Toyota will launch the Prius c compact hybrid vehicle and the Prius Plug-in Hybrid. By the end of 2012, Toyota will offer at least 11 Toyota and Lexus hybrid and electric cars.
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It is painfully obvious how far the American car companies have fallen behind the curve. Lack of foresight. A disease that plagues our Country.
Those huge SUVs every soccer mom loved must look like a horror whith gas as $4 a gallon and rising.
Discussing the significantly more important environmental and national security issues of the big oil is, unfortunately, still not a significantly motivating factor – That Foresight Deficinncy Syndrome again.