Americans have love “don’t mess with Texas” type bigness.
The Prius is too small and refined. It’s something that an intellectual or a professor would drive. And we know that Americans don’t like intellectuals and professors. They want some crassness and vulgarity.
The Prius is something that you most likely see in the cities or hip urban areas. So it’s not something that real Americans can relate to.
Americans also like to tinker with their cars. The Prius is too complicated and takes an engineering degree to figure out. Not really a muscle car type vehicle that a high-school drop-out could work on.
I was told that back in the 1970s only professors and nerds drove small Toyotas and imports. By the late 1980s those brands became mainstream (except in the Midwest and Texas).
During the early days of Starbucks, fancy coffee was seen as elitist and drinking a latte was definitely un-American. But now, Starbucks is mainstream.
At one point, wine drinking was seen as too European and un-American. Now it’s a must for the educated. In La Jolla or Carmel Valley, I’m sure that parents buy soy milk or rice milk for their kids.
We are moving on up….
As far as driving is concerned, most drivers don’t drive at constant speeds. They accelerate and slow down as part of their natural way of driving… The Prius encourages drivers to drive at constant optimum speeds to save gas.
I don’t drive a Prius but I’m a Prius lover. I like to be ahead the pack. Great technology and quality manufacturing will win out eventually.[/quote]
There is also the Japanese car vs. American car issue. I am concerned about American car companies because their attempts to compete with the Prius haven’t worked out. The most important is the Chevy Volt, although it has great technology, it is too expensive. It clearly shows that GM has not been able to embrace the concept that very efficient hybrid cars must be different. GM has compromised the car design to make it similar to conventional cars. A clear example is the Volt’s huge fake chrome grill. It seems that GM believes Americans will not buy cars without grills. I hope the average American is more sophisticated than that.
