HYBRID BUYERS DON'T RETURN: STUDY

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It seems buyersof hybrid cars don’t fancy them too much a second time around. A study done by research company Polk in the US says only 22% of hybrid customers replaced their hybrids with another hybrid. This excludes Toyota Prius customers, who are more prone to buy a fresher one come replacement time.

In general, 35%of all hybrid owners have stuck to their “green” cars in the three years Polk did the study, which was between 2008 and 2011. There was no reason given for this. There’s also no such study relating to the Mzansi market where the hybrid market is limited to Prius, some Lexus models, the Honda Insight and CR-Z. The small Toyota Yaris HSD hybrid arrives soon, while BMW is also bringing the 5 Series ActiveHybrid within the next two months.

South Africans prefer their normal petrols, as well as a few diesel variants thrown into the mix. Hybrids, which run on petrol and can also use electric power from on-board lithium-ion batteries, are not so popular. Not yet anyway.