San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

It's all an image thing.

Americans have love "don't mess with Texas" type bigness.

The Prius is too small and refined. It's something that an intellectual or a professor would drive. And we know that Americans don't like intellectuals and professors. They want some crassness and vulgarity.

The Prius is something that you most likely see in the cities or hip urban areas. So it's not something that real Americans can relate to.

Americans also like to tinker with their cars. The Prius is too complicated and takes an engineering degree to figure out. Not really a muscle car type vehicle that a high-school drop-out could work on.

I was told that back in the 1970s only professors and nerds drove small Toyotas and imports. By the late 1980s those brands became mainstream (except in the Midwest and Texas).

During the early days of Starbucks, fancy coffee was seen as elitist and drinking a latte was definitely un-American. But now, Starbucks is mainstream.

At one point, wine drinking was seen as too European and un-American. Now it's a must for the educated. In La Jolla or Carmel Valley, I'm sure that parents buy soy milk or rice milk for their kids.

We are moving on up....

As far as driving is concerned, most drivers don't drive at constant speeds. They accelerate and slow down as part of their natural way of driving... The Prius encourages drivers to drive at constant optimum speeds to save gas.

I don't drive a Prius but I'm a Prius lover. I like to be ahead the pack. Great technology and quality manufacturing will win out eventually.

There is also the Japanese car vs. American car issue. I am concerned about American car companies because their attempts to compete with the Prius haven't worked out. The most important is the Chevy Volt, although it has great technology, it is too expensive. It clearly shows that GM has not been able to embrace the concept that very efficient hybrid cars must be different. GM has compromised the car design to make it similar to conventional cars. A clear example is the Volt's huge fake chrome grill. It seems that GM believes Americans will not buy cars without grills. I hope the average American is more sophisticated than that.

The Volt isn't meant to compete with the Prius.
The Volt is targeted at the Lexus and BMW and Mercedes crowd.

It does that very well.

Glad you're okay Navydoc.

Interesting phenomenon that you point out with Prius drivers, as has also been noted at this link I posted previously:

"Ever been cut off by a prius with an Obama sticker? It happens more often than it should. The tipping point for the One Less Prius sticker was nearly being hit by one such vehicle IN THE BIKE LANE on Sunset Blvd. The guy gave me the finger when I threw my hands up."

from:

http://nowhip.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-l...

I don't ever see this because I don't ride a bicycle. I might if they had dedicated separate paths where I need to ride, but sharing the roadway with autos is too dangerous for my blood.

But why you cyclists notice an increased danger from Prius owners is very interesting. Three possible reasons I can think of:

(1) Maybe they are generally less attentive drivers? I sometimes think that many Prius owners don't like visiting gas stations because they just don't like cars. Since they don't like cars, I wonder if that gives them poorer than average driving skills - maybe they don't take the time to hone those skills.

(2) Maybe they are envious of someone greener than they are?

(3) (thought I had a third possibility but have forgotten)

This would make an interesting case study...if one every gets done, let me know because I'd love to find out the psychology behind this behavior!