Prius Sales Tank Even With Higher Gas Prices

it has a lot to do with the reliability on the cars. Many people are keeping them to 150k and beyond. No need to upgrade/update if the old one is not broken. And the price of a replacement battery being $3000, once you spend the money, you keep the car longer to get your monies worth.

Anyone that wants one, probably already has one. Also competition is everywhere, every car company has a hybrid. Where is there room for growth?

 

Time for an updated 2015 model to re-ignite sales.
The Los Angeles newspapers have multiple dealers selling 2014 models for $20,999
I'd buy another if I needed a new car.

 

Well, last year 2013 was highest ever for "electric drive" approaching 4% hybrid + plug-ins.
This year looks more like 2012 which was 2nd highest year for hybrids + plugins.
In CA, low prices on PiP+HOV stickers+incentive$ are shifting sales to Plug_ins versus hybrids.
Also seems like gaso prices are heading down some...not as high as 2013.

 

I imagine that some of the decline is also due to ppl holding off knowing that a new generation of Prius will be available soon. Especially since so many Prius buyers are repeat customers. I'm sure that a lot of gen 2 & gen 3 owners will be quick to buy the gen 4 when it comes out and then sales will jump.

 

Spot on.

 

I myself think that the market is now saturated. Production has risen above demand, plus the fact that these cars are very high quality with a long life span. Many people are still afraid of the hybrid because of the battery. But those who know what a Prius really is will also realize that the battery is NOT a big deal. It is just a part of the car.

I do know this much. Toyota is still generous with their trade in value's provided the used Prius still has a reasonable amount of miles on it, is in good to excellent shape and basically ready to sell once it has been cleaned and ran through make ready.

I can truthfully state the above second paragraph since the dealer gave me $11,500 trade in value on a 2009 Package #2 with 79K on the clock. Applied the trade in toward a new 2013 that was deeply discounted since it was purchased at the end of the month, and the end of the quarter. $30,000 car, sold for $25,000. On top of all of that, due to my high credit score I was able to secure a 36 month loan on the balance at zero (0) % interest.

To sum it up, there are plenty of Pri out there and it is a buyers market at the moment. If you have good credit and are ready to buy, find the car you like and hammer out a deal.

Ron (dorunron)

 

In addition to the need for a model change, a lot of manufacturers are making some great looking cars, while at the same time approaching Prius' fuel mileage figures. Not quite, but getting close. Styling and fuel economy are starting to tip the scales.

 

i have to agree with ron. sales figures aren't bad, i think they are making too many cars. next few months should be interesting.

 

The prius sales are off by a good 20 percent compared to last year. Those extra cars being produce will only give you better year end deals. I'm thinking Toyota will and have adjusted their production numbers by now, fewer cars will come off the production line in the months ahead.

SM-N900P ?

 

I notice when I drive through the lot of a new car dealer they are loaded with new Prius cars. It just seems to me that people want gas guzzling SUVs. I live in a Chicago suburb where gas prices are at the top of the cities with the highest gas prices. The economy here is lousy but it sure seems that people here don't mind paying high gas prices. You see more Prius cars here though but the SUVs are sure in the majority.

You got a great deal. No doubt about that.

 

I'm going to replace my 2001 Prius sometime when it becomes unreliable. Should I worry about it lasting to the 2015 models .....or lasting completely past the 2015 model run?

In the meantime I guess I'm going to keep my 2010 for ....?

 

Sales are down because the fuel mileage on other vehicles are on the rise. CUV's, SUV's, small cars etc.... Are all rising. Even trucks are doing 28mpg now with diesel. Cars are hitting over 40mpg without the hybrid drivetrain, and better driving dynamics. So the prius doesn't have the large edge in fuel economy it once had, now that the gap is closing, sales will drop.

Also, fuel is still cheap in the U.S compared to the rest of the world. So a gain of 10mpg over other economy non-hybrid doesn't actually amount to much. That's a 25% increase in fuel costs. The average person drives 15,000 miles per year. So a non-hybrid that averages 36mpg will cost about $128 a month in fuel($3.69/gal). A hybrid that averages 50mpg will cost $93 a month in fuel. So a hybrid is only saving $35 a month for the average driver. Hardly seems worth it. For me, i'm a commuter which drives alot, 4hours a day on the highway on most days. So i'm saving about $100 a month over high mpg conventional gas engine, and saving $200 a month over my subaru. So the car payment actually equaled out to the fuel savings, so it's a wash, and just means i don't have to put miles on my other car.

But for the average driver buying a car today, $35 a month hardly seems worth driving an inferior car whose only pro is mainly better fuel economy. All other attributes aren't very good. Poor driving dynamics, road noise on the highway, interior materials etc...

 

^ This

It's funny how soon people forget. After the mad panic of 2006 to 2008 the Prius settled down to around 12k sales per month. Then it rose, particularly with the family expansion. Oh no, now there were "only" 18k Prius family sales in April 2014! Oh, and Toyota also had near 4k TCH sales and 1.5k Avalon Hybrid sales. Then there's the "struggling" Ford C-Max (#1 C-Max conquest vehicle: Toyota Prius), which didn't exist until 2012, which had 1,586 sales. The Fusion Hybrid had 3.5k sales, the Sonata Hybrid 2k, Accord Hybrid 1.4k. All in all there were 10 non-Prius hybrids with sales over 1k.

And then there are plug-in sales:
#1 Leaf conquest vehicle: Toyota Prius.
#1 Model S conquest vehicle: Toyota Prius.
#1 Volt conquest vehicle: Toyota Prius.

The only people who should be worried are Toyota execs. Relax, and see what Gen 4 brings.

 

This is weird, in my area, numbers of new prius cars on the roads went up a lot in the last several months.

 

Prius is now too expensive for what it is and the competition have also released economical models which might not quite reach the Prius for mpg's, but will be acceptable to many people.

In Europe Prius sales are dropping too and here we have always had diesel competition which has now caught up and exceeded mpg's in official ratings (yes I know real world is a different matter) and Euro 6 diesel virtually matches the Prius for NOx and is cleaner on soot.

You don't have to convince me about which is better, hybrid or diesel, but the 100 million car buying Europeans.

 

Err.... name me a medium-sized (or even compact) by EPA classification non-hybrid 4+ cylinder car that gets 40+ mpg combined. So-called "40 mpg" cars are quoting EPA highway numbers. Not everyone lives and works on a highway and is able to drive at highway speeds for much/any of their commute. Most of those "40 mpg" cars are low 30 mpg combined cars.

As for $3.69/gal, heck, even the cheap gas stations in my part of CA are past $4/gal for regular.

Instead of looking at it your way, let's look at it another way. People seem to get all bent out of shape when gas hits $4/gal or so. Local news will keep running stories about "pain at the pump". Ok.

Let's say one drives a Prius and only gets 46 mpg combined (instead of the 50 mpg combined EPA rating) and pays $4/gal. If they switch to a 30 mpg combined car, that's effectively like raising one's gas price to over $6.13/gal. Would Americans be up in arms if gas went up to $6/gal? You bet! But why aren't they up in arms if they chose a 30 mpg combined car instead of a 50 mpg combined one?

What about if they achieve only 18 mpg combined (probably being generous) in a battering ram of death class (full-sized) SUV (most of which around here seem to be driven solo and/or minimal passengers and cargo )? That $4/gal gas is now effectively been raised to over $10.22/gal!

Maybe this is the type of marketing that Toyota and other hybrid makers need to engage in, in order to get people to think and run some calculations for themselves.

 

Not a bad post on this subject. Everything makes sense. My wife was recently in the market for a new vehicle. I hinted Prius, but she wanted something different. We chose a CUV (compact utility vehicle) with decent fuel mileage, great styling and a great list of options.

 

My calculations were based on an average 36mpg combined, which is acheivable in many of the new cars. The prius is classified as a midsize car, but it really only compares to midsize cars from the 90's, it's too narrow to truly measure up to modern midsize cars. It really compares more to civic size cars, which are only slightly smaller in rear legroom but overall about the same size of vehicle.

Everything is more expensive in california. Taxes are also rediculously high to pay for that lifestyle. California has a 71.3cent fuel tax per gallon(highest in the nation), on top of the federal 18.4cents. Most other states hover around 35-50cents per gallon. My calculations are based on averages, using california fuel prices would be more to the extreme rather than the average american.

Fuel taxes in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No one looks at it your way, it doesn't make total sense and doesn't really paint the total story, and people need large suv's for various reasons. I for one tow a travel trailer with mine. Calculations should really be based on your monthly fuel costs since most cost of living items are based on a monthly payment. It's easier to put any vehicle into your budget based on projected monthly cost, not dollars per gallon comparisons.