Saw on the news today that the Toyota Prius was the fastest selling car, on dealer lots an average of only 6 days before being sold. Scion XB was 5th on the list. Mini Cooper was 6th. Can't recall the others on the list right now. TomSki Hot Lava #1746

 

Funny, the fastest selling cars are one of the least seen cars on the road.

 

Well, the statistic is based upon the time on the lot before sale. Toyota has limited the number of Priuses (Priii?) available, so just about every one is spoken for before it even gets to the lot, so they spend very little time there.

The thing that skews the data is the availability. This stat is more a measure of supply/demand than a measure of popularity.

You could have a really bad car and limit the supply so severely that the few people who bought them did so before the vehicles were delivered. This would produce a very attractive statistic even with lousy sales!

George

 

Actually, the XB was the fourth car on the list. The first car was the prius followed by the Sienna and then the Chrysler 300. People are starting to catch on. That is both good and bad. I don't want my XB to lose is unigueness. In my neighborhood I am the only one on the road. I never see another XB in my daily driving. I assume other XB's have to be around if they are selling so well.

DrG

 

I have noticed an increased amount of them driving around. I see one almost everyday (not counting the one that lives on my friend's street). I've only seen 3 xA's though.

 

This is more about the supply pipeline than popularity. There are a lot more Camrys sold everyday but there's no shortage because Toyota knows it can sell all it makes. Meanwhile, it's not so sure about Scions. That's why the slow rollout. See if it catches on in California first, give time for any buzz to build, then expand to other parts of the country if things go well. They're keeping production low so they don't end up with too many cars. Low supply also feeds demand and keeps the prices where Toyota wants them.

It was a similar situation with the MINI. After gobbling up SUVs, would America go for a tiny car? Until they did, keep production low. Well, it was a hit but BMW knows the market for MINIs will always be small (compared to, say, 3 Series Beemers). Better to make them hard to get than having to dump them.