Has Toyota fallen out of love with the Prius?

Speaking to the UK market, if sales of new Prius cars is declining yet demand for used cars is holding prices high, then the only likely cause of slumping new sales is that the car is priced too high. Clearly it's popular (or about as popular) with consumers or the used market would be in similar decline. New cars are relatively more expensive in the UK anyway, but a Prius specced up similarly to my US bought three costs the dollar equivalent of a bit over 37,000 - $10,000 more than in the US.

To my mind, that puts a liftback in a price band where it competes against a number of popular vehicles offering poorer fuel economy but more power, higher levels of comfort and equipment or better 'market image'.

I would expect the natural outcome of this to be that most of those in the UK who want optimal fuel economy are likely to opt for the cheaper Yaris hybrid. If those people are in the market at liftback level costs, there's a lot more temptation at that point to drop fuel economy down the list of priorities in favour of something like performance.

I don't know whether the same happened in the UK market as it did in the US when the gen 3 models were introduced, but here they cheapened the Prius experience by dropping features. My gen 2 model III had fog lights, auto-dipping mirror with homelink, SKS on 3 doors, touchscreen display, HID headlights. My gen 3 model three had none of those, and SKS only on the driver's door. In addition, while the stereo was still the JBL premium model with 6 CD changer, it had a much more basic feature set, including a 10 character display. I think by making the decision to restrict the cool 'extras' to the top-end of the range only, Toyota shot themselves in the foot with potential buyers. One of the strong selling features was all the cool technology and gadgetry a Prius came with, and suddenly it didn't.

Obviously they have somewhat corrected this, but removing extras which are increasingly part of competitors' packages must have lost Toyota at least some Prius sales - and momentum in the marketplace. At best that takes a long time to recover from.

 

GC,
The pricing does seem irrational, but I do not know enough about the UK scene to comment.

Is Lexus considered a 'luxury' brand in the UK ? How about the Prius ?

 

whats wrong with corolla? they are very popular here.

 

agreed, but over here, the appliances are the top ten selling cars. i think corolla is #4non hybrid.

 

wow! amazingly different than here! ford fiesta is your number one selling car? who would have thunk?

 

Median salaries are considerably lower in the UK than the US, and cars are some 20% more expensive.

Cars called 'econoboxes' in the US are called 'nice cars' in the UK. Same story in Israel, only more so because VAT is 150% (one hundred and fifty percent): A well heeled middle-class family might spring for a Honda Civic.

 

$8 a gallon explains fuel sippers more than it explains econoboxes. If $8 a gallon fuel came to the US, Prius sales would explode, not sardine cans on wheels.

I certainly agree that smaller sized cars are easier to park in congested countries, but am I wrong in saying that even in the UK car sizes have on average decreased over the past few decades ?

 

The more Toyota listens to the MBAs, the more like their less-successful competitors they will become. Toyota rose to the top of the automotive industry by not following the short-sighted, zero-sum, "grab it while you can" doctrines of greedy entrepreneurs like the "Wolf of Wall Street" many of whom have been serving time.

The long game has been won by Toyota, but playing the short-game would be its downfall. Customer loyalty can be squandered for quick cash, but once that's gone, it's all over.

 

it does make you wonder, with the top 10 cars being such pieces of carp, how toyota and honda have failed so miserably. even hyundai/kia seem to be struggling to get a foothold. maybe there's just an anti asian bias?

 

Is that an asian carp?
Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

The notion of what is and isn't crap is very much in the eye of the beholder and the circumstance. Aside from the fact that UK models are usually not exactly the same as they are US - build quality, standard equipment levels and engines - there is very little need in the UK for vehicles designed to travel hundreds of miles whilst providing luxury cruiser comfort. British roads (English in particular) are heavily congested, average journeys MUCH shorter, parking (not just at home, but also town and city centres) in short supply. The majority of consumers there need personal transport of an entirely different variety than they do in the US.

For most people in the UK, a car is a luxury. In the US, with very little public transport infrastructure outside the major conurbations, the car is a necessity.

 

that's koi to you sir.

i'm not talking size, i'm talking quality. i know nothing about vauxhall, but if ford can beat toyota and honda at there own game, why not bring it to the states?

 

It's quality I'm talking about as much as size. Ford beat Honda and Toyota because they offer vehicles which are well equipped at better prices - all else being equal, it's hardly surprising that they have a dominant position in that market. I think they also adapt to changing circumstances better. When fuel prices there went through a brisk series of rises in the mid 90's, Ford were first to market with a 'city' car (the Ka) which despite being small, had lots of space and was very comfortable. Vauxhall (the UK's wing of GM), Toyota, Honda and the rest were slow to catch up. Ford used that lead to successfully leverage other models.

Manufacturers in general can't just bring their European, Australian, far-eastern or even South American models to the US because of regulatory differences. It's cheaper to build US-specific models to comply with US regulations and the market here. I see that trend is beginning to change a little now that lead times for design of new vehicles is decreasing, but even when body styles are the same, it's often very different under the hood.