Demand for fuel-efficient vehicles hits dealers hard - some in a good way

Guy Ferguson is in charge of inventory at Precision Toyota of Tucson. Every day he fields requests from customers for cars he knows he can’t get for them for at least three weeks. What’s the fuss? Hybrids. Alot of people want them and supply just can’t keep up with the demand. Now that consumers have seen $4 per gallon gasoline - and are relieved that’s it less than that now - the reality has set in that fuel efficient cars such as the Toyota Prius make sense. In fact, the sales velocity of the Prius is faster than any other vehicle on the lot at Precision Toyota, 700 W. Wetmore road. The demand is so great, Ferguson says the average number of days a Prius stays in stock is zero. Not only that, he says he has 50 Prius orders to process — but no cars.