Toyota Sells One-Millionth Prius Hybrid in the States

The Toyota Prius, a car that is often credited for bringing hybrid-electric technology to the masses, has managed to rack up its one-millionth sale in the USA. The announcement comes shortly after Toyota achieved two more milestones that started with global Prius sales topping the two million mark in October 2010 and overall global Toyota hybrid sales passing three million last month.

“Since the Prius went on sale eleven years ago not a year has gone by when it hasn’t been the number one selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S,” said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager.

“Prius has become synonymous with the word hybrid and as we see fuel prices starting to rise again, it has accounted for more than 60 percent of hybrid passenger car sales so far this year. Prius paved the way for hybrids and while it is still the hybrid leader in sales and fuel economy, I’m proud to say that since its introduction, 13 other auto brands have seen the benefits of hybrid technology and joined the hybrid market,” Carter concluded.

The first generation of the Prius was introduced in 1997 first in Japan and later on in the U.S. and other countries. The second generation came to fruition in 2003 and remained in production until 2009 when Toyota revealed the current, third iteration of its popular hybrid model.

Toyota claims that since its launch in the U.S. in 2000, the Prius has “saved American consumers more than an estimated 881 million gallons of gas, $2.19 billion in fuel costs, and 12.4 million tons of CO2 emissions” when compared to the average car.

At the Detroit Auto Show in January, Toyota introduced a new member to the Prius family, the Prius v minivan that will go on sale in the third quarter of the year. The company also plans to launch two more models in early 2012, the Prius c compact hybrid vehicle and the Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicle.

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Analysts Predict Expensive Fuel and Factory Shortages Could See Prius Price Rise

There’s an old saying that goes, “One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity,” that I think is particularly apt in describing this latest story. With the civil war in Libya nudging petrol prices skyward and with the growing fear that Japan’s earthquake crisis will slow production of Toyota’s ubiquitous Prius hybrid, American consumers are flocking to their nearest dealership to snatch one up.

Tammy Darvish, the owner of four Toyota dealerships around Washington D.C. explains: “A lot of customers are convinced that prices will be going up and that availability [of the Prius] will be a little short.”

A Texas Toyota dealer is reporting that his sales have doubled in the last six weeks due to steadily increasing fuel prices. And with no U.S. factory producing the popular hybrid five-door, it’s not like there’s a backup supply if things become more pear shaped in the land of the rising sun.

February sales are up 27% from the month before, and nearly 75% more than this time last year at the height of the brand’s PR damaging unintended acceleration debacle. Though neither its Prius assembly nor two of its three battery plants were damaged in the earthquakes that hit Japan’s Hanshin industrial region last week, production at all Japan-based Toyota plants has been halted until at least next week due to, “prioritization and electric power availability”.

Toyota North America is assuring customers that supplies are adequate at the moment, though, “customers may need to check a number of dealers and may not find exactly the color and equipment they want”.

Edmunds have noted a 3% nationwide increase in Toyota Prius prices in the last few weeks, though dealers are not yet expecting as big a spike as was felt during the 2008 semi-fuel crisis. CoolPictures will keep abreast of this issue and post any updates we receive in the coming weeks.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: FT

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Toyota Postpones Prius V Launch in Japan after Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis

The latest victim of the ongoing crisis in Japan is the new minivan version of the Prius as Toyota announced today that it has decided to postpone launch of the car at its home market. “No decision has been made at this time on when the launch will be rescheduled,” Toyota said in a statement.

Despite the delay in Japan, Toyota said that the North American version of the Prius V, which is scheduled to launch at the end of summer 2011, remains on track. “No decision has been made in regards to a possible need to change the launch timing,” Toyota said.
The world largest automaker unveiled the Prius V minivan with five-seats at this year’s edition of the Detroit motor show in January. It was followed by the European market Prius+ featuring three rows of seats for seven passengers at the Geneva Salon in early March. It is believed that Japan will (eventually) get both the five- and seven-seat versions of the Prius minivan.
The disaster in northern Japan has created severe problems to Toyota as the company recently extended the vehicle-production halt that began on March 14 at all of its plants in the country through March 26.

NORTH AMERICAN TOYOTA PRIUS V

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EUROPEAN TOYOTA PRIUS+