http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/17/auto...rvey/index.htm

I just got done reading this and am a bit annoyed. Is this a pro diesel article or an anti hybrid article?

 

After reading the article, I don't get the impression that this is pro or anti anything, but actually an incomplete article. Furthermore, it follows with how CNN and other media outlets pick and choose what they think their readers need to know.

How many people from the 57 percent last year purchased a gasoline/hybrid electric vehicle? Perhaps the percentage is lower because people actually went out and bought one.

Notice it reads "car shoppers." How many of these shoppers, ages 16 through 25, were actually buying new cars? I wonder why CNN decided not to post information from older "shoppers." Also, using my argument above, the 13 percent decline should have been a reflection of this age group purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

This quote is the most reliable part of the whole article. Buyer preferences, not media outlets, will continue to shift the market. With hybrid technology out now for about a decade, perhaps this is why diesel manufacturers are looking for higher FE? And since diesel does get better FE than gasoline, wouldn't it make sense that a diesel hybrid would do better than a gasoline hybrid.

One thing I notice with the members or GreenHybrid and media outlets. The members here actually investigate, research, and use their own real world data to come to conclusions. Media outlets appear to use information that meets the needs of the spin they want.

 

Smile and buy hybrid electric stock.

Since Toyota opened up manufacturing, some percentage of buyers have already bought their hybrid electric. This should reduce the number of people thinking about a hybrid electric because they already bought one. Also, my understanding is the other hybrid makers don't have a shortage like Toyota did last year. So now the number is down to "50%" . . .

Half of all car shoppers are thinking about a hybrid electric? In any other industry, the sales folks would be throwing parties, it would be great news. A "7%" decrease is not even close to a hard drop. When we see a return of gasoline lines, that "50%" number will explode (as we cruise by the gas lines.)

So unless someone figures out "if wishes were horses," this is just another bump from marketing road-kill.

Bob Wilson

 

I've taken a couple of surveys lately about cars, most recently today at lunch in an online survey, and I'm never quite sure how to answer those questions about whether I'm thinking of buying a hybrid car. I already OWN a hybrid car, and while they ask me that in another part of the survey, the later questions always deal with future interest in a hypothetical way, as if I couldn't possibly already be a hybrid owner. It makes it tricky. Generally, since I know what they're getting at, I think it's best to answer that I'm interested in buying a hybrid, and that's not terribly far off, because I like my hybrid so much that I would certainly buy another one. If I didn't have one already. Which I do. ....gggrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

 

Many surveys are poorly worded, and poorly designed. Leaving the decision of "what the heck do they mean by this question?" up to the person surveyed will result in poor, sometimes misguided conclusions.
The real problem here, often, is that the survey designers already KNOW what they want to see for results. So they either intentionally craft questions to guide you to their desired answers, or they forgetfully leave out options they haven't considered (like the "are you considering a hybrid" question, when in fact, you already OWN one).
The worst part is the folks interpreting then and making conclusions are often the same folks that designed the poor questions. And then the media quotes these misguided results as though that's the definitive public opinion.

 

JD Powers always ranks crappy american cars highly in initial quality.

I think the underlying survey is suffering from a more subtle CNW marketing effect.

Just sayin'. There's a thread about this at www.autobloggreen.com that might be interesting to some folks here:

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07...ty-to-diesels/