"...during recessions, discretionary products suffer while discount products and companies thrive, which is why Wal-Mart has been doing well. But at Toyota, hybrids have been doing well. In March, a month in which total sales fell 3.4 percent from March 2007, Toyota sold 31,552 hybrids, up 19 percent from the year before. Sales of Lexus light trucks rose slightly, powered by rising sales of hybrid SUVs, even as sales of Lexis sedans plummeted. In this down market, sales of high-end vehicles that convey only status are slumping, while sales of slightly less high-end vehicles that convey status and promise gas savings are booming..." [more]
Navigating The Recession Sustainably
Slate's Daniel Gross opines on the rise of the hybrid in tough auto-markets and it brings to mind my own business model. How can I provide strategies that focus small business people on conservation and opportunity?
