the environmental impact of producing a prius, or any car for that matter, is much greater than how much the car pollutes during its lifetime. If we really cared for the planet, we would stop producing and buying new cars and drive the ones we already have into the ground. A new Prius owner would help the environment much more by keeping his/her old car.
Huh?
I mean, I understand the part about it taking natural resources to build a car. Moreso than the a car uses to drive.
However, last time I checked, there aren't fleets of still-good cars sitting around not being sold. There is no huge surplus of cars in America. It's not like you get rid of your old car and they crumple it up and throw it away. It gets sold to someone else, and they drive it.
The current rate of auto production (10-12 million) is basically simply replacing cars that are worn out, broken down, or trashed in accidents. If there was a huge glut of used cars, the market bottom would drop out. It hasn't, and isn't. In fact, it's increased due to cash-for-clunkers.
If we actually cared about the planet, we would draw fact based conclusions from actual data and not just throw "Green" ideas out like "Everyone should stop buying new cars".