Why Didn't Toyota get a charge out of the Plug In Prius?

Remember how Volt supporters told us to wait until sales had been going on for awhile before drawing any conclusions?

Doing that now for Gen-2 of the Prius plug-in, before even getting any information, is what?

 

As far as I know, there is no plugin vehicle (of any size) that gets higher EV efficiency than PiP.

Top 20 MPGe thread is full of realworld data. Although it is only for 1,000+ miles interval, it shows how Toyota got it right to use EV for city. You can also blend to boost MPG with good results.

 

Why leave untapped market to competitors when you do have available stock?

It is no longer the year 2000 when the only hybrid competition to the Prius was a two seater Insight. It seems to get overlooked in these discussions, but Ford does offer two plug in hybrids nation wide that is based on a proven hybrid system. The Energi's each sell in the same numbers as the Prius PHV. With lower total sales of the hybrids, this means a Ford hybrid shopper is more likely to opt for the plug in than a Prius shopper.

Then the PHV market segment isn't stagnate. Not a direct competitor to the Prius PHV, but still a PHV, is the i3 REX that came out last year. Even farther removed from the Prius PHV and Volt market, are the other PHVs from BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Cadilac that are available now or will be in the coming year. As I mentioned, not direct competitors, but they illustrate that the plug in hybrid concept has penetrated beyond the environmental and economical groups that hybrids were in during the same time of their development.

A 2016 Sonata PHV will be available this fall. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHV will likely arrive before the second generation Prius PHV. So cutting your losses is a good economical move. Unless your competitors are viewing their losses as investment in market share capture and name recognition.

 

Seems to me the Tsunami disaster was a giant recalibration for Japan, and PiPs did not meet the expected Japan sales plans, which were probably set pre-disaster. Also in US plug in sales were not as high as expected except pretty big in CA. As it turned out, many US EV early adopters turned out to highly desire big lithium batteries and heavily criticized PiP for their plug-in-lite approach. So Toyota has to recalibrate for US-centric market as it developed, bigger EV range, more Fed subsidy, and frankly maybe more of luxury car with convenience (re: inductive charging). I tend to think hybrids and plug-ins may be more higher end cost vehicles in general.

 

Hooray! An economics 201 question. That's real progress.

Unbalance can work against a leader. When you're too far ahead, competitors will fight rather than collaborate.

Toyota wants the others to join in. It's a win-win situation, but requires a wait period for the leader.

That works out nice, since the R&D effort never ceases. We've seen this many, many times in the computer industry. The automotive industry is only now discovering the potential.

 

U.S. Buyers don't care if the car runs on pixie dust. What they like, is having more EV electric range.
That can come from lithium batteries, nickel batteries, unobtanium batteries (very rare though) or Unicorn tears.

The fact that lithium batteries can supply that range and power means that is what gets sold.

The Prius market used to be:
People that wanted to use less gas for the environment.
People that wanted to use less gas for national security.
People that wanted to use less gas for national fiscal health.
People that wanted a Prius for the tech.
People that wanted to buy the "in" thing (only in certain circles).
People that wanted a HOV sticker.
People that want to spend less money on gas.

They have lost out on all of those, except the last for a few people, for consumers that mostly drive less than the BEV's range that fits in their price bracket.

They need the creature comforts to attract more buyers.
They also need to put down plugin vehicles as Toyota hasn't offered what many people want.
Will they with the second gen? Possibly, I know they are certainly capable.

 

maybe they don't want/need to attract more buyers with prius because they do that with other models.

 

There are few that don't get more efficiency on the EPA combined rating.
If you are driving fiurther than 12 miles, but less than 65, there are none that rate lower than the PiP.
Sure, you can find specific situations where the efficiency of plugins do worse, and you may have anecdotal evidence of individuals that do better than the EPA numbers.

But from the measuring stick the EPA provides, I see no basis for your statement, especially beyond 12 miles.

Compare Side-by-Side

 

The early plug in adopters were most likely people that have been waiting for some type of EV since at least the first Rav4 EV and EV1 were available. Those that got a Prius in the intern may have gotten a plug in kit, or at least researched it. The Prius PHV is superior to those third party kits in nearly all ways. It is just that the Leaf and Volt got to market first, and they are more want the early adopters wanted. If neither of those met an adopters needs, there were the Energis.

But they need to keep their line up diversified, or end up like old GM when the gas prices spiked up.

Toyota is spreading hybrids out to new models in time, so I don't think they'll really end up like old GM, but the plug in market is a growing one, and they are out of it except for the Prius PHV. As things appear from here, they are going to end up as a follower in that market like the others follow them on hybrids.

FCVs play better and get more government support back home since the tsunami. With possibly some pride/spite at play with Nissan skipping hybrids to go directly to BEVs, Toyota seems to be planning on a non-plug future.

 

From the perspective of newest & most, that's true. But from the perspective of mainstream buyers, definitely not.

That supposed "lost" is really just is the natural progression from early-adopter to ordinary consumer.

Again, know your audience. Mainstream vehicles strive on balance, appealing to a wide variety of purchase priorities while still be affordable for the masses.

 

only time will tell, i guess.