In some parts of the United States, the supply of Toyota Priuses is only enough for a single day’s worth of sales, but the company is estimating that full production will be back by September.

Prius sales were down 61% last month because of Toyota’s inventory issues – the lowest sales level since September, 2004. As a result, industry analysts are calling the Prius the poster-child for inventory issues.

Last year, 140,928 Toyota Prius hybrids were sold. The highest number of sales for this car was in 2007, when 181,221 units left dealerships. Only time will tell what the ultimate sales total for 2011 will be.

All totaled, Nissan Division sold 65,659 cars and trucks, an improvement over the 56,266 sold in June of last year.

Most people would consider a 17% sales uptick a good thing, but Automotive News is reporting that Nissan’s vice president for sales, Al Castignetti was disappointed by the results of his company in particular and the industry as a whole, and that he had been projecting a sales increase of 20%.

The strongest performers in Nissan’s stable were the Altima and Sentra, which saw sales increases of 23% and 31%, respectively. This is especially pleasing to Nissan since the Sentra is due for a redesign, yet managed to outsell the lower-priced Nissan Versa during the month of June. Last year, the positions were reversed, and Versa was the better selling model.

The 2011 Nissan Leaf, the carmaker’s all-electric pride and joy, was also a strong performer, with 1,708 units – 200 more than expected – delivered last month.

Other increases were seen in the Nissan Rogue (8% improvement) and the Nissan Juke, though inventory shortages hurt those cars as well.

Reports from Nissan say that Infiniti’s supply issues should end this month with the arrival of 10,000 vehicles to the United States.

Gas prices in the United States reached an average of $3.14/gallon this week, according to numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). What that means to most of us is that the average price of gas is 53 cents higher per gallon than it was a year ago, and that prices are now the highest they’ve been since October, 2008.

Of course, there are regional variances in the prices of gas (see the map above), with some as low as Texas’s $2.99/gallon, and as high as California’s $3.45. But why is this happening? Most experts agree that it’s because the global economy is once more spinning along, but that oil production is unable to keep up with demand due to a combination of short-term logistics errors and recent turmoil in the Middle East adversely affecting the traded price of oil.

According to a story in USA TODAY, crude oil supplies have hit a bottleneck in Oklahoma, where some of the physical oil that is generally used in selling futures and options of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange is sourced. The Mercantile Exchange is one of the key players in the futures and commodity game.

The EIA has released its own short-term energy outlook which suggests we should expect prices of around $3.15/gallon for regular-grade gasoline in the summer of 2011, $3.30/gallon next year, though, it points out, the modeling predictions are laden with “specific uncertainty.” According to the agency, there is a 35% chance that the national average gas price may exceed $3.50/gallon before the summer is over, and a 10% change that they’ll exceed $4/gallon across the country.

That’s especially bad for the West Coast, where there’s a possibility that some communities on the West Coast could be paying $4.25/gallon at the pump within the next few months.

On the Monday after Christmas, crude oil hit $91/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which caused an average increase of 7 cents/gallon at pumps across the country, bringing the average price to $3.05/gallon, nearly 45 cents a gallon more than we paid for gas at this time last year. Diesel prices have been affected as well, and currently sit around $3.29/gallon, or 56 cents more than last year.

Despite this, Kelley Blue Book’s lead analyst for vehicle evaluation, Alec Gutierrez, says that SUV sales have only decreased by about 1 percent since the last major upturn in gas prices, in Spring, 2008, and he says that unless gas prices move into the $3.50 – $4.00/gallon range there won’t likely be a dramatic drop, but that there won’t be the same rush to get ride of SUVs and other larger vehicles that there was almost three years ago.

“If you see a 20-to-30 cent price increase per gallon over the course of a couple weeks then of course people are going to panic,” Gutierrez explained, “but if it increases steadily over time that gives the market a chance to react rationally.”

Even though consumers are more aware, this time, about what they may face at the gas pump, buying habits may not change all that much.

According to Gutierrez, “The Ford Escape, the Nissan Rogue, the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4 — the compact crossover segment — that’s where we’ll see a lot of growth in terms of production and sales overall. The American consumer still generally wants to have a vehicle that offers a lot of utility but at the same time they are conscious of the fuel economy that the vehicle offers and what they are going to pay at the end of the month.”

But consumers aren’t the only segment with budgetary concerns, Gutierrez said. Dealers may not want to buy back SUVs if they can’t make money on them at auto auctions. “The days where a dealer could just go to auction and stock up on a bunch of SUVs and hold them for 40 or 60 days are over.”

Dealers, then, are being extremely cautious about their inventories this year.

Jason Stewart, general manager of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, FL, explained to reporters, “Our small SUVs are doing OK but the large SUVs and large trucks have definitely cooled off since the pickup in gas prices.”

Stewart added that at the same time, Toyota Prius sales have tripled, which is the reverse of the sales picture from the gas price crash late in 2008.

Stewart explains that two years ago, “…when gas was in the low-to-mid twos, we did a 180 the other way where Prius sales fell off the mark and we were selling more of the Sequoias and Tundras. My gut is it ties right into people’s pocketbooks.”

Stewart also said that the trade-in values of SUVs completely tanked the last time gasoline prices reached this high, though he added that these vehicles have never been terribly popular in his part of Florida. Nevertheless, the dealer said, he plans to cut back on the number he has for sale.

Another dealer, Dennis Egglefield, who owns Egglefield Ford in Elizabethtown, NY, said that sales of SUVs dropped by fifty percent during 2008′s gas price peak, but have leveled out since then. Egglefield’s dealership is in the Adirondack Mountains roughly 100 miles south of Montreal, Canada, and four-wheel-drives are the vehicles to have there. Nevertheless, Egglefield said that he’s noticed more customers leaning toward the smaller Ford Escape rather than the Explorer or Expedition

He explained that, “SUVs are still important in this area, but people are downsizing to more fuel efficient SUVs instead.”

He also said that as gas prices continue to go up, “…we are still stocking with the idea that it may go either way. Hoping for the best, but prepared for anything.”

Just this past Monday the price of oil increased by 19 cents, finishing the day the highest close for crude oil since October, 2008: $89.38 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A cold snap in the northeastern United States has led to a higher-than-usual demand for heating oil, and investors have also been reacting to rumors that the Federal Reserve may soon go live with a new attempt at jump-starting the economy, which move would increase the upward pressure on oil.

Prices at the pump have been creeping steadily upward over the last month, as well. Even though the consumer demand for gasoline has remained consistently low prices across the country have gone up by more than 30 cents as compared to a year ago, and parts of the Northeast have seen a price increase of over 40 cents a gallon.

Analysts say that if the price of crude oil remains in the $90/barrel range, the average cost of a gallon of gas could hit $3.00 by year’s end, although some consumers have been paying that much for most of this year anyway.

The Hybrid Car blog refers us to analysts from Cameron Hanover who stated in an article distributed via the AP wire service, that for every one-cent increase in the price of gasoline, Americans spend an additional $4 million on oil.

As well, more expensive gas could strain the potential economic recovery. Witness the words of Lisa Margonelli from The Atlantic:

“This is a big hemorrhage of money that could be put to other uses that would boost our economy… A jump in the price of gas will fall disproportionately on the shoulders of the middle class. Families making $50,000 a year already spend an average of $7,900 annually on their cars, maintenance and fuel, according to the GAO. That’s more than they spend on taxes or health care—two costs the Republicans and Democrats have made their respective signature issues.”

As a result, the stake that American taxpayers have in the company will drop by over half. Launching at just over $35 share instead of in the high $20s originally anticipated, GM was able to raise a significant amount of money to repay the federal government, reducing the government’s share of the automaker’s equity from roughly 60% to closer to 26%.

Despite this very strong return to the stock market, analysts from the New York Times say that in order for the government to earn back every cent it gave to GM, stock would have to trade and more than $53/share.

We will have to watch and wait.

For the first time, the IEA is forecasting not the coming of “peak oil,” but stating that the global crude oil production peak that we all thought was looming over us actually arrived four years ago in 2006. Since then, the worldwide economic downturn has caused international demand for crude oil to be reduced a bit, but the IEA says that once the economy bounces back worldwide, daily crude production will no longer be sufficient.

While this is alarming, it’s not likely that we’ll be dressing like Mel Gibson in Mad Max anytime soon. The IEA’s 2010 report also projects that we’ll be able to “mostly supplant” crude oil with other fossil fuels like natural gas and tar sands, and renewable, clean energy sources will also make significant gains.

According to the IEA, the world’s daily global oil production amount will reach a plateau of roughly 68 million barrels each day by the year 2035, as energy demand increases by more than 35% between now and then. They also forecast that, largely because of pledges from various governments to reduce their countries’ dependence on fossil fuels, new energy sources will help us avoid the catastrophic oil spike that has long been predicted as a significant feature of the “peak oil” age.

According to representatives of Fuji, which builds Subaru vehicles, the new slogan reflects the company’s focus on safety and engineering as well as its ongoing commitment to innovations that match the changing needs of its customers.

If the numbers are anything to go by, Subaru has much to be confident about. It posted a 25% increase in October U.S. sales, and has a year-to-date gain of 23 percent – more than twice the industry advance. Two years ago, in 2008, Subaru was the only carmaker to increase American sales in a collapsing market, and last year it was one of three. It’s also on target to recover from a loss last fiscal year.

Mori unveiled the new tag line yesterday, along with a revised earnings forecast for the fiscal year which ends on March 11, 2011, in which he doubled is net income outlook to $597.7 million (50 billion yen) compared to last year’s $196.7 million net loss. Earlier predictions were for a net profit of $298.9 million.

According to a representative of Nissan, there will be no new orders taken until after the first of the year. The current number of reservations (including 6,000 pre-orders in Japan) is around 26,000, more than double the 10,000 production capacity the carmaker has planned for the current fiscal year, which culminates at the end of March, 2011.

U.S. pre-orders opened on April 20, with drivers paying a refundable fee of $99. Pre-orders in Japan began on April 1, and in Europe on July 30, but Nissan has no numbers for that market yet.

A Nissan spokesperson told the press, “Nissan now is focusing on providing the best level of customer service and premium ownership experience to those who already have enrolled. A subsequent phase of reservations will begin next year, after current reservations and orders have been processed.” The spokesperson also said that Nissan is currently screening potential customers to make sure their regular driving patterns mesh well with the Leaf’s 100-miles-per-single-charge range. There is also a prioritization of orders based on launch dates in local markets, and when reservations were made.

If you’re interested in purchasing the zero-emissions Nissan Leaf, but missed the pre-order window, you can still visit the company’s website and sign up to receive news and updates on the next round of reservations.

The Leaf will be on sale in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington this December, with Hawaii and Texas markets opening in January. By the end of the year, it will be available throughout the United States.

Source: Automotive News

We agree, and want to share KBB’s list of reasons why a used hybrid car may be the right ride for you:

* Historically, hybrids have retained their value, outpacing the overall market. In fact, $4 gas meant huge hybrid premiums and dealer mark-ups. The times have changed.
* Low gas prices are a major factor. Steady prices at the pumps have resulted in a relative lack of demand for new hybrid vehicles.
* At the same time, technological improvements in gas-powered cars, like the Ford Fiesta and Chevy Cruze, are giving hybrids a run for the money in the new car market—especially during the recession.
* This has put a downward pressure on hybrid residual values and prices on used hybrids.
* In this period of low gas prices, spending less on a used hybrid—rather than a new one—means a quicker payback period.
* KBB says the payback period on used Honda Civic Hybrid is reduced to five years, rather than 16 years supposedly required for a new purchase. (Yet, despite lower gas prices, the premium on a Toyota Prius apparently has held firm and doesn’t help the used buyer as much.)

KBB also says that more and more consumers are finding that the lower prices of used hybrid cars make it more feasible to get all the benefits – lower gas prices, less harm to environment, ability to use commuter lanes – to the tune of an increase in web traffic from people looking for these used vehicles of 20%.