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Re: Is it good time to buy Highlander?
>> Hybrid tax incentive is going to end at the end of year but I still can[color=blue][color=green]
>> not justify the extra cost of $5000 to $7000 just because it is HOT at
>> this moment.[/color][/color]
I thought, and I may be wrong, that the tax incentive only went to specific
vehicles that got better than 40-45 mpg? If so, that leaves the Highlander
Hybrid out of the tax equation as it gets far less than that. Same for the
Lexus SUV hybrid and their non-hybrid model.
The mileage between the two Highlanders isn't all that great, maybe 5 mpg.
My salesman told me they had expected it to be better than that for the cost
difference. However, the hybrid model is touted for better performance and
not touted for any mpg savings if you watch any of Toyota's ads.
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Why government are spending our tax dollar to promote car manufactures
>> and dealers to rip/charge us much more? I don't get it. Even with the
>> tax incentive, I will say the dealer and car manufacture are making all
>> the money.[/color][/color]
The primary reason was to get us out of the gas guzzlers, but then look what
happened. The U.S. automakers got caught with an abundance of guzzlers
sitting in their lots and now are crying that they are losing money (to
Toyota and Honda who make more efficient gas engines (hybrids) and whose
sales went up.
So the gas prices dramatically fall so the U.S. car dealers can peddle off
their guzzlers, already discounted heavily (Dodge Ram ads are still running
on TV for $15,000+). Fwiw, even the non-discounting Toyota dealers
discounted their guzzlers at the time - not by much - as well and placed a
surcharge of $3-4K on their Prius model to offset the loss on their
non-movers - and because they could!
Those owners of the guzzlers took a hard depreciation hit on ownership.
Used car lots are loaded up with SUVs and pickups. However, stagnant sales
of the lot sitters are beginning to move again as the fuel prices are low.
What happens next summer will be interesting, especially if the U.S.
automakers get caught again without bringing more efficient vehicles to
market.
In the meantime, the oil companies are still making money by shifting the
cheaper gasoline that is subsidizing he U.S. automakers to that of natural
gas. Damn home heating bill seems to have tripled in the last month!
Soon, we'll all be assimilated into some sort of hybrid.......
B~
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