Continuing on with whack a Prius week, Holman Jenkins attacks a bunch of Prius strawmen in today’s Wall Street Journal (Subscription may be required). Writing sarcastically as the Toyota company Jenkins proceeds to tell Prius owners they are fools by setting up a number of Prius owner assumptions then knocking them down. I found the article interesting in how off base it was about why I bought a Prius, and why I enjoy driving it.

I am not a car guy, I just don’t normally find cars very exciting, but I have never been surprised that someone spends some extra money on a sports car or an SUV when all they do is go to work and the grocery store in it. People like the looks, they like extras in a car and they are making a bit of a statement about themselves. I didn’t buy a stripped down Prius thinking I was saving the world, I bought a full featured Prius to get me to and from work comfortably.

I certainly do like the gas mileage; I average about 50 mpg without changing how I drive. This means I fill up about every week and a half with a 35 mile commute each way. I am not really counting the pennies on the gas, but it is nice to go awhile without stopping in at a gas station. The mileage I get is less than the EPA’s estimate, but the dealer told me it would be when I was looking at the car and it is much better than the 36mpg I was averaging before.

The bit that I thought was most amusing in his article is this:

Contrary to any loose statements made by our marketing partners in the environmental community and media, petroleum not consumed by Prius owners is not “saved.” It does not remain in the ground. It is consumed by someone else.

The message there is one of total hopelessness and futility isn’t it. All the gas is going to burned anyway, you should just drive a GM SUV and get it burned as quickly as possible. He then goes on to explain that my Prius is dependant on gas just like all those other cars. Well duh. Up to that point I just assumed he thought I was stupid, it is clear he thinks I am totally brain dead.

Jenkins then suggests that all the other car drivers think we are stupid for driving a Prius. His proof for this is how fast the Prius sells off the dealer lots. We should expect a low resale value because we are suckers. Sadly this bit of genius hasn’t yet penetrated the real world where the Prius enjoys a very high resale value but I am sure it will someday.

My absolute favorite part of the article is when he quotes GM telling Toyota what to do with hybrids with a straight face. Elsewhere in the Wall Street Journal you can read articles about GM preparing for a possible bankruptcy as Toyota overtakes it as the world’s largest car seller, but here GM is apparently providing brilliant advice for Toyota. I happen to own some shares in GM and can tell you all about the brilliant leadership they have provided in hybrids and car sales in general over the last fifteen years or so. If I were Toyota I wouldn’t be running to follow advice from GM.

Earlier I mentioned that cars make a bit of a statement about the driver, here is what I would like to think I am stating with my Prius. I like car makers that innovate, not just make the same junk over and over again. I don’t think the current hybrid technology is the be all and end all, but it is innovative. Have a look at the smaller GM cars made today, they are basically the same car they made twenty years ago only with cheaper components. I guess they count more cup holders as innovation in Detroit. I am willing to reward innovation with my money, even if my money doesn’t turn a profit on the gas savings. Twenty years from now I would love to see more cars on the road that have developed from the Prius line of thought rather than more GM clunkers with newer, more innovative cup holders, but I am no expert, just a sucker who bought an popular innovative comfortable car with a high resale value.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 at 9:29 am and is filed under News, Pettiness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.