Jump to content
Create New...
  • William Maley
    William Maley

    Toyota Reconsiders The Prius Strategy

      Toyota goes back to drawing board with the Prius

    Back in 2011, Toyota made a very bold prediction; the Prius would be the best-selling Toyota model in the U.S. by the end of this decade. This seemed legitimate as gas prices had been climbing a steady rate and the Prius was the most popular hybrid. But that meant beating the Toyota Camry which in 2010 sold 327,104 models (the Prius only sold 140,928 models in 2010). To do this, Toyota would create the Prius family with the introduction of the Prius C, V, and Plug-In Hybrids.

     

    Five years on after this bold prediction, Toyota is reconsidering their plans. Thanks to lower gas prices (and in turn, consumers returning to pickups and crossovers) and models such as the Camry, Corolla, and RAV4 outselling it by a large margin, Toyota is now saying the Prius won't achieve that lofty goal.

     

    "Given all the changes in consumers' preferences right now, I don't think we're forecasting the Prius to be our top volume seller anymore," said Bill Fay, Toyota Division general manager to Automotive News.

     

    Part of the reconsideration deals with the Prius C and V. Fay said Toyota is planning to "reinvest" in the C and V. But whether or not a second-generation happens for either model is still too early to tell.

     

    The V's future is in doubt more than the C because of a new hybrid model - the RAV4 Hybrid. While the RAV4 doesn't come close to matching the Prius V's fuel economy numbers (34 City/31 Highway/33 Combined for RAV4 Hybrid, 44 City/40 Highway/42 Combined for the Prius V), it does offer slightly more practicality and the option of all-wheel drive.

     

    "We'll have to see how well the RAV4 Hybrid does. Because the RAV4 could really take the place of the Prius V," Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America.

     

    Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    Prius Family I believe will continue to shrink as Toyota and other companies like GM find ways to use the Hybrid plug in model on more common desired auto's. For GM, I hope the Equinox / Terrain ends up with a plug in Hybrid power train. My gut tells me the RAV4 Hybrid will do much better than the Prius V. After all everyone wants a CUV with better MPG but no loss in functionality.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    People bought the Pruis to save on gas (even if the financials of that idea were sketchy), but taking the fuel savings aspect away, the Pruis was rather lousy as a car.  It handles poorly, has a lot of road and engine noise, every one I've driven has creaks and rattles, and they're ugly.  Now that gas is as low as $1.25 a gallon in some parts of the country, the fuel saving aspect is far less compelling and cannot overcome the negatives of the car.

     

    Other hybrids I've driven are actually decent at their primary task of being a car. You don't take an experience penalty to drive a Fusion Hybrid or Chevy Volt. You just get the normal, capable, Fusion and save fuel. In a Fusion hybrid, there is no downside outside of the price of admission to the hybrid theme park. 

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Well, in the new MT test (which I think was poorly done)...

     

    The new Prius, despite its looks, they said really corrects many of the daily driving issues of previous generation cars. The car feels more substantial, not as much as the Volt, but the Volt is aided in that feel because of the heavy battery pack.

     

    And it beat its EPA estimates in their Real MPG test, that most hybrids fail to do really.

     

    I think, the car is quintessentially what Toyota is about. Take away the ugly styling, here you have a clearly Japanese-focused car. In the JDM market, it is the sales king, the car gets undoubtedly stellar mileage.

     

    And I think Volt still has the issue of being a more complicated car, that adds cost, and makes it less competitive on an entry starting point. 

     

    If there was any hybrid that was really just focused on mileage, it's Prius. But this generation, they've finally made it a daily car. And like Mini - it has its legacy quirks, part of the way the car is - is for it to be bizarre.

     

    Given how people actually drive cars, I think if someone told me they wanted efficiency first without the entry point of the Volt - handily get the Prius over the Fusion/Malibu/Camry/Sonata/Optima hybrids. Easily.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • google-news-icon.png



  • google-news-icon.png

  • Subscribe to Cheers & Gears

    Cheers and Gears Logo

    Since 2001 we've brought you real content and honest opinions, not AI-generated stuff with no feeling or opinions influenced by the manufacturers.

    Please consider subscribing. Subscriptions can be as little as $1.75 a month, and a paid subscription drops most ads.*
     

    You can view subscription options here.

    *a very limited number of ads contain special coupon deals for our members and will show

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • I hate to say stuff like this, but you can profile people fairly easily.  A certain emboldened member with a smaller view of the world used to get on my case about this ... go see the world and learn to make inferences.  At any rate, I was boarding a plane in Jacksonville and, in front of me, was a guy with a baseball cap and all I could see was the rear camo effect.  When he got up, I saw Trump 2024.  I felt like saying something to him, along the lines of how is it that the most conservative people support the most depraved individual.  I thought I should skip it since I didn't want to end up in an argument and on a "do not fly" list for some airline.  He was white with salt and pepper hair but had that Charles Bronson brow.  So, you know ... ex-military, high paying trades, utilities, government job ... or alligator trapper.  For all these so-called conservative people, we've never had a first lady (lower case in her case) where you're a "k**t hair" away from seeing the R/X rated stuff.  I'm originally from SoCal and NOTHING shocks me, but that and the whole circus of everyone involved - extended family, loyal friends - is over the line for me for the job at hand. Houston is not my favorite place.  However, I handle it much better than Dallas or San Antonio, which don't interest me.  I don't like their interior location and the brushy looking mesquite.  Houston has a distinct and attractive downtown.  There's the Space Center.  There are the museums, of which MFAH is free one day of the week.  There's Galveston, and even if the not the nicest beach, water can be so therapeutic, just watching the cruise ships or freight ships come and go.  Lastly, there are some beautiful neighborhoods, with newer homes in the darker red brick, completely hidden under a pine canopy, which is never the case in other big Texas cities.  It reminds of Atlanta, which I very much liked.  So, between that, and the welcoming and freewheeling people, I can hang in H-town for a while and find new indie coffeehouses and eateries.  There's so much food and it's easy to gain weight there.  I agree ... I hate Orlando FL ... a bad knock-off of Las Vegas and Las Vegas is already bad. I've never been to Hawai'i and Alaska.  I'm not so sure I'm interested.  If I have to fly that far, I'll just cross a pond.  I also have an issue with Hawaiians since some of the locals of Samoan stock have issues with "haolis," having heard this from white folks I knew who moved there and then came back because of the passive-aggressive discrimination.  The only states I have never set foot in are a cluster in the middle and they're not that pressing for me - ND, SD, Nebraska, and Montana.  So, I'm at 44 of them and that's good enough for now.
    • Watching "The Hunger Games" why do I feel we are going down a dark path?
    • The question I am hearing from more and more Americans: "Can we RECALL the President and VP?" Sadly, NO is the answer. It would take a motion to add to our constitution to allow a recall of the folks as even the Senate and House members are protected with no way to recall them either.  Interesting is that most states have in their constitution the ability to recall state politicians including the Governor that has happened in a few states over the last Century. Most recent was California.
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search