Hybrid sales soaring

As the temperature rises, so do fuel prices and a push for cars that get good gas mileage.

Across the United States, gas prices have increased about 30 cents over the past month, and hybrid vehicle sales are at an all-time high.

Two of the increasing number of places that carry hybrid vehicles in Cape Girardeau are Coad Toyota and Cape Girardeau Honda, both on Siemers Drive, the area's largest car dealer strip.

"Sales this year have increased dramatically," said sales manager Paul Horton at Coad Toyota. "There's been a lot of interest in hybrids, especially over the last couple of weeks with gas prices creeping up."

Horton said this is the first time the company has had more than one Toyota Prius -- which is advertised at 51 to 60 miles per gallon -- on the lot at a time. Now they have three or four.

Toyota Prius topped the customer satisfaction survey in this year's annual Consumer Reports.

Curt Johns, owner of Guy's Big-Tall in Cape Girardeau, purchased a Prius, for which he was wait-listed for a year, through Coad Toyota last year. Johns' only qualm is that the car gets 25 miles per gallon for the first five minutes when it's recharging, he said. Then the Prius gets gas mileage in the high-40s on the highway, unless he has the heat on, which uses the electric motor and brings the gas mileage down to about 38. The air conditioner uses slightly less energy, he said.

Fuel budget

Johns said his fuel budget has decreased from about $200 a month for his 4-wheel-drive pickup truck to about $50 a month for the Prius.

Larry Bell, who lives between Jackson and Fruitland, recently bought a Prius for about $25,000. He'll qualify for a $1,375 tax credit at the end of the year, he said.

Bell, who is retired, likes to travel and has just returned from a 12,000-mile trip to Oklahoma City, where he averaged about 48 to 49 miles per gallon.

"I don't know how well it's going to hold up yet, but I'm completely satisfied at this point," he said, adding he stopped only once to refuel each way on his trip.

Bell said he has noticed the wind plays a factor when driving a light car.

"I took a trip to St. Louis, and when I would hit a bucket of wind, the car would get about 45 miles to the gallon," he said.

Steve Nunnery, the car salesman at Coad Toyota who sold the car to Bell, said he sold two Prius' in one day last week. "Prius dominates the market because it's the most fuel-efficient hybrid," he said.

Alan Journet and Cathy Conway of Cape Girardeau bought a Prius in 2002 from a dealership in St. Louis for $21,650, and they say it has been reliable. The married couple, who both work at Southeast Missouri State University, said they remember going to Coad Toyota -- then known as Soskin Cape Toyota -- and weren't able to purchase a hybrid because the car dealership didn't have enough interest from area customers. Journet said the salesman didn't want to get a technician certified to work on hybrids because he didn't think the company was going to sell enough vehicles.

According to the Toyota Motor Sales report, the company posted its best-ever monthly sales in March, which was boosted by record hybrid sales.

According to the report, the company sold 28,453 hybrid vehicles last month, up 105 percent from the same period last year. The Toyota division sold 26,801 hybrids, while the Lexus division sold 1,652 hybrids.

Honda, which mass-produces hybrids, posted its fifth-best month in history with help from the gas-electric vehicles.

According to the American Honda Motor Co. sales report, Honda sold 3,199 vehicles in March, including 2,813 Civic Hybrids and 385 Accord Hybrids, a combined increase of 6.7 percent over last year.

Mike Skelton, new-car sales manager at Cape Girardeau Honda, said the company doesn't stock a lot of hybrids, but they sell what they have quickly.

Snowball effect

"If I stock 50 regular Hondas, I might have three or four hybrids on the lot in comparison, so the limited availability is going to skew our sales numbers," he said, adding that the company sells 100 percent of the cars they receive. "It's just kind of a snowball effect -- we sell one and we earn one. If the trend continues, our hybrids will be easier to replenish."

Mike Mullins, a car salesman at Cape Girardeau Honda, said he has noticed a direct relationship between gas prices and consumer interest in hybrids.

"Interest is up on any car that gets better mileage these days," he said.

Larry Kern, car salesman at Bud Shell's Auto World on Siemers Drive, said he has no hybrids on his lot, but there's a 2007 Chevy Cobalt that gets gas mileage in the mid- to low-30s.

"The complexion of the clientele has definitely changed to more conservative vehicles with better gas mileage," he said. "When the gas prices go up, people definitely become more interested in a higher fuel economy."

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137