As gas prices soar, LI hybrid sales surge

Soaring gasoline prices are inspiring more inquiries from car shoppers about electric and hybrid models, according to local dealers, and a surge in the sales of hybrids, especially the Toyota Prius.

While dealers concede some of the hybrid sales surge can be attributed to rebates and other incentives, they say more shoppers than before are carefully studying window stickers for the government fuel economy estimates.

In St. James, Denis Dagger, general manager of Smithtown Toyota, says his Prius sales were up by about 20 percent in February from a year earlier, to about 50. "Buyers are not as panic-stricken as when gas was $4.50 a gallon," he said, in reference to the summer of 2008. "But the Prius has absolutely spiked."

At Riverhead Toyota, general sales manager Angelo Trocchia says he sold 30 Priuses in February, twice the number from a year earlier, thanks to the combined impact of rising gasoline prices and sales incentives from Toyota that included a choice of a cash rebate or cut-rate interest on loans and leases. They expired Monday.

Regular gasoline has risen in price by almost 80 cents a gallon from its recent low of $2.829 a gallon Sept. 7 to an average Monday morning of $3.620 a gallon, according to the AAA. Unrest in the Middle East is just the latest of many contributing factors. Regular on Long Island hit a record $4.346 a gallon on July 8, 2008, in the AAA survey, sparking a similar run on hybrid models.

"When it breaks $3.50," said Trocchia, "bingo - the next thing you know it's 'I've got to get a Prius.' "

One of Dagger's recent Prius buyers was self-employed insurance agent Bruce Mayer, 50, of Ridge, who passed his V-6-powered Nissan Maxima to one of his daughters and took delivery Thursday of the hybrid. He said he chose the Prius because of rising gas prices and uncertainty about future supplies.

"To me it was a no-brainer," he said. "I needed a car anyway." He drives about 12,000 miles a year, and his miles-per-gallon average in his Maxima was in the low 20s. The Prius is estimated by the federal government to attain a combined city and highway fuel economy of 50 mpg. It begins at about $22,000 and is among more than 30 hybrid models now offered in this country.

Dealer Mark Calisi of Eagle Chevrolet in Riverhead says he has been flooded with inquiries about the Volt, a plug-in hybrid that is available in limited quantities. "Demand and phone calls for the Volt have increased 300-fold," said Calisi. "But I have only two, and they're spoken for." The Volt costs about $41,000, before about $7,500 in federal tax rebates. It can drive from 25 to 50 miles on batteries, after which a small gasoline engine switches on to provide more electricity and some mechanical power to keep the car running. General Motors has said it plans to produce 10,000 Volts this year.

Except for the surge in interest in hybrid models, most dealers in a quick survey report little change in what people are buying and say that sales remain strong.

"I have not seen any changes in customer behavior at all with the gas prices rising," said Ray Tantillo, a co-owner of dealerships in Suffolk County that handle Nissan, Hyundai, GMC, Buick, Chevrolet and Mazda vehicles. He says his sales overall in February were up by about 25 percent from a year earlier.

Bloomberg News Monday said U.S. auto sales in February may have approached the fastest pace since the government's Cash for Clunkers program in 2009 - an annualized rate of 12.5 million cars and trucks, based on 10 analysts surveyed by the news service.