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Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile
For a car to make sense it needs to be economically viable.
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That's true, but face it: there are a lot of cars out there that a) cost more than even the $40K Australian Insight; and b) get far worse mpg. For instance
- Cadillac Escalade: $72,970 - $91,875
- Porsche Cayenne: $49,600 - $146,000
- Range Rover: $69,220 - $102,920
The companies that make these seem to stay in business, so the cars must be economically viable, no?
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FWIW, Here are my references, since apparently my numbers are unbelievable
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The link just shows a blank page. However, I never said that your numbers are unbelieveable. The only part I don't believe is that the $40K price of the Gen1 Insight in Australia wasn't due to taxes, import duties, or some such. Given that price, of course it's going to take a long time to make up the price difference between that and a cheaper alternative.
However, if you compare against a vehicle from the above list, or many others (average new car price in the US is a bit over $32K), the Insight, Prius, or similar hybrid is ahead from day 1.