Edmunds.com is one of the go-to sites on the net when people are shopping for a car and they want to compare specs and prices without having to visit a dozen different car dealers. With all visits they get, Edmunds has a lot of data on what people are looking for and when. With all that data stored on their servers it was natural for them to do some analysis on it. They compared what vehicles were being shopped for and when against the price of gas at the same time.

The results were shocking. You might be surprised to learn that when gas prices go up, people shop for more efficient cars. Actually the relationship is not quite that simple. With prices below $2.80 a gallon the relationship is fairly linear. Above that price point, things change much more aggressively. The consideration of vehicles like hybrids goes up dramatically while mid-sized SUVs plummets. This would seem to correlate well with the declining sales of vehicles like the Ford Explorer and Chevy Trailblazer. There's nothing here that anyone should find to terribly shocking, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Source: AutoObserver, thanks to Srini for the tip]

Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief at Edmund's has his own blog on the site, and in the latest installment, he highlights an electric motorcycle that I have heard about before, the Killacycle. What I did not know is that the cycle is capable of making a run to sixty from a standing stop in 1.4 seconds. The lithium ion batteries for the cycle come from A123 Systems and cost $12,000 in this one-time application. Karl thinks that if these batteries are available right now for an electric motorcycle, and have been super reliable, then we cannot possibly be that far off from a reasonably priced plug-in hybrid. I think his argument makes perfect sense. Everybody who reads this site is probably familiar with the idea of economy-of-scale. Basically, the more of a product you make, the less each individual product will cost. Makes sense, right? If batteries like these were made in the amounts necessary for a midsize car which sold, say, 50,000 units per year, that $12,000 battery pack should go down in price. That is the idea, at least. Care to comment?

Related:

• Watch an electric motorcycle run an 8-second quarter mile

[Source: Edmunds]

We have been following the release of the Can-Am Spyder since we first heard about it, and now we have an online ride review to digest. If you have any interest in this 3-wheeled vehicle, it would be a good idea to click here and read their three page report, and then click here to watch the video that they have made, showing the Spyder in an obstacle course.

It remains to be seen what impact this vehicle will have on the motorcycle and automotive market. The good news is that it is backed by a very large company with a lot of experience manufacturing small and large market vehicles. The lessons that they have learned while building ATVs, snowmobiles and jet-skis is sure to come in handy as this street-legal vehicle rolls out.

The testers at MotorcycleUSA likened the riding dynamics to that of an ATV and a snowmobile more than a motorcycle. But, the controls operate much like a motorcycle's, minus the lack of a separate front brake lever. An automatic transmission is available in addition to the standard five-speed manual shifter. ABS, traction control and rollover stability control are standard. Still interested? I am... and when I check one out in person, you'll see the posting here.

Bonus Coverage: For more external reviews try: Car and Driver, Edmunds and the American Motorcyclist Association.

Related:

• A three-wheeled extravaganza! Piaggio MP3, VentureOne, KTM X-Bow and Can-Am Spyder
• More transportation alternatives, this time plucked from Kneeslider
• You too can ride like an animal after watching this Piaggio MP3 video. Scary!
• Can-Am Spyder official site is live, view our gallery
  

[Source: Motorcycle USA, Car and Driver, Edmunds and the AMA]

According to Edmunds.com, a hybrid costs between $1,200 and $7,000 more than its gas-consuming counterpart, so it comes a no surprise that people often buy hybrids for reasons other than saving money. Last February, Edmunds conducted a survey and found the top five factors were:

1) To make a statement
2) High gas prices
3) Tax credits
4) The environment
5) The thrill of using new technologies

As gas prices continue to rise, the viability of saving money by buying a hybrid becomes evermore realistic. So where's the tipping point? Reuters reports on a different study recently conducted by Edmunds in which they present actual savings for hybrid owners. Assuming you drive 15,000 miles per year, always fill up with gas costing $3 per gallon and received the maximum federal tax credits for your hybrid, a Toyota Prius or a Ford Escape Hybrid would show savings in about 3 years. If, instead, you opted for the hybrid version of the Saturn Vue, Toyota Camry or Honda Civic you would see those savings in about 6 years.

In adding to the study's assumptions, the break-even estimates were calculated with the notion that the consumer would have otherwise purchased the gas-powered version of the same car. In the case of the Prius, Reuters points to Edmunds' use of the gas-only Toyota Camry as a benchmark for comparison.

An article in Auto Industry points to a similar study conducted by Consumer Reports in April. They found that in most cases the combination of tax credits and gas savings failed to offset the additional cost of a hybrid over its gas-powered twin until about 5 years or 75,000 miles into ownership.

Future buyers of hybrids should also consider that federal tax credits are in a process of waning. On October 1st, buyers of Toyota hybrids will only receive half of the tax credit that is currently being offered. In April of 2007, those tax credits will be again reduced to 25%, and in October 2007, they will be eliminated completely. Yet as gas prices continue to rise, so will the gas savings of hybrid owners.

[Source: Reuters]

I'd heard rumors that Honda's next project would be a hybrid CR-V. I was excited about it, too--Americans don't seem to be willing to give up their SUVs, and thought that it was about time that Honda joined the ranks of Ford and Toyota to produce a bigger hybrid. However, a source at Edmunds says that the hybrid CR-V never made it off the drawing board. The reason? Honda's hybrid technology works better on smaller cars, and no hybrid Honda SUV would be able to recoup in fuel savings the reportedly $7,000 additional cost.

The good news, though, is that like the commercials say, the Fit is go. It should be available in 2008, and the hybrid version will only be $1,800 more than the gas-only version. That's exciting, but it's no hybrid CR-V.

[Source: Edmunds.com, and thank you Joel A. for the tip]

If reading about hybrids isn’t enough for you, then perhaps the collection of videos over at Edmunds.com (a car buying information guide) will suit you.
The site has the following videos online: First test-drives of the new Toyota Camry and the Lexus RX400h, tests of the Lexus GS450h and other models and the long-term test video of the 2000 Honda Insight. Most interesting looking is the comparison video between the 2006 Civic Hybrid and the 2006 Prius. I couldn’t get the videos to load on my system (Mac OS X with Firefox) but perhaps you’ll have better luck.

Edmunds will take your desired features (prize, size and type) and rank the cars by your choices. Of course, there are only nine hybrid vehicles in the database, so if you’re feeling energetic, it’s totally possible to rank the nine cars yourself. The site also has a buyer’s guide and a fuel economy guide, which I’ll review soon.

[Source: Edmunds.com]