Toyota has recently found themselves in a very unique place, as the demand for the Prius has significantly outgrown the supply. However, instead of having user’s wait on a long waiting list, they have come up with a unique marketing strategy to keep new potential customers happy, while still rewarding their current Prius Owners. Used Prius cars are actually selling at prices that are equal or higher than the original sticker price.

Most interesting is:

” Some auto dealers are going so far as to contact owners, offer to buy the cars back at their original sticker prices and resell them at a higher price, presumably ringing up profits twice for the same car, Mr. Libby said.”

The most intriguing part of this study was that “Acxiom found that four out of five Prius are new to Toyota Motor Sales USA.”

With GM looking for new ways to win customers, while still keeping their current Owners happy, this has proven to be an incredible marketing technique by Toyota that has seemed to occur naturally based on the success of the Prius.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=130082

According to Compete-

In May, Cobalt shopper counts reached their highest level since February. Despite similar levels of demand, Chevrolet was able to sell almost 60% more Cobalt models in May compared to February. While not as hip and cool as a hybrid, the Cobalt and other small cars can save a substantial amount of money at the gas pump without the added cost of a hybrid engine. By utilizing timely messaging Chevrolet was able to find success in a down market. With gas prices showing no signs of ebbing, nearly every model is featuring fuel-economy messaging from the obvious (Honda Civic) to the not-so-obvious (GMC Sierra). Has their advertising been as effective as the Cobalt’s?

http://blog.compete.com/2008/06/20/chevy-cobalt-msn-ad-sales/

According to Compete-

Does the price of gas actually run the engine of automotive interest in the US? If you sell compact cars it sure does. Compete tracked monthly shopping, or demand, for the compact car segment and compared it to the monthly U.S. weighted average gasoline (all grades) prices over recent months. Compete measures in-market demand by looking across all popular 3rd-party sites and aggregates unique shopping behavior by observing how many people actually utilize shopping tools for every make and model.

http://blog.compete.com/2008/05/08/prius-gas-price-feul-efficient/