Featured Can Toyota Save the Prius

Bingo! My daughter insists she doesn't want a car. Of course, she is still in her college days..not necessarily reality.

 

true, things change. two of mine have cars, and one doesn't and at 38 probably won't. one is waiting for the hybrid rav4 and the other just traded her '08 prius for a subie.
hard to say who will buy prius in the future. maybe they need to restyle it into a cuv.

 

I was in San Diego last month. Shared e-scooters were everywhere. This was the city with PRIUS cabs everywhere but honestly I did not see too many of them this time. Maybe Toyota should start making e-scooters. lol

 

As inuderstand, gas prices was lower in uSA in 2009

SM-G950F ?

 

nope, not my 20 yo son. he doesn't care for prius at all, even if I give it to him for free.

 

this was because 1. people thought the dip in gas prices was just temporary and 2. 3rd gen prius was a huge improvement in terms of esthetics, power and MPG. I hated the 1st gen (echo), didn't like the 2ng gen vanilla styling, but liked the 3rd gen. 4th gen styling is completely nuts, even though engine improved a bit again.

 

But like others have said on this thread oh, it looks like a cartoon, LOL

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

And a poster at Fuelly loved his hybrid when he did the same. C&D seemed to like it. Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid Says Goodbye for 2017 – News – Car and Driver

Hyundai engineers claimed parallel hybrids needed technology to improve in order to have the fine control of all the components that resulted in a drive people would accept. That's why full parallel hybrids arrived after power-split ones. They also used a traditional automatic, not a DCT, for their first hybrid.

Ford still makes those cars for overseas markets. They were only cancelled here.
We don't know GM's full plans. They only announced the closing of factories. Some of those factories made transmissions and engines for models that are built in factories staying open. So we can't say a model's factory closing means the model is being cancelled with full certainty. The Cruze hatchback factory isn't being closed, sedan production may start there, for example.

But then the market certification costs need to be paid.

Fuels or cars?

If cars, its simply because most are unwilling to pay extra.

Same for the fuels, renewable fuel will cost more. Which is why I believe we need to shift most of the fleet to PHEVs. Once an individual's fuel costs and use drop for running the ICE only part time, then the higher cost of renewables becomes tolerable.

 

Was that established somewhere? In this thread?

I'm not trying to debate you, just genuinely curious: is something for sure coming?

And praying the pendulum will swing a bit back towards sensible. Not banking on it though.

 

What a great topic. It is very interesting to read others opinions and beliefs on this subject based on their different experiences. I saw the topic come up on the recent post list and went back and read each individual post. I learned a lot of how others feel on the future of the Prius and why they feel that way. For me it is fascinating to hear others opinions and their logic.

Toyota would do themselves a real favor reading these post, studying them and taking some direction from them on what customers want and are asking for.

I like product diversity and as a consumer relish picking the option that best suits my family situation. Currently I drive 15 miles one way to drop my kids off to school and return home. I do that twice a day. I have driven Toyota’s exclusively for the last 30 years. I have to admit we had our eyes on the new Chevy Volt. The idea of being able to drive 50 miles on purely electric – maybe 60 if there is enough regeneration is attractive in our situation. To be able to pass by gas stations and not have to buy their product is exciting. I know as an individual I will never be able to control the price of a gallon of gas but having the power to control how much I have to buy is pretty neat. It is interesting to hear people at work continually complain about gas price swings and never do anything about it. They feel helpless even though there are products from car manufacturers that would allow them to confidently control how much gas they have to use.

I am not ready to make the jump to all electric and the type of hybrid that can get 50 miles to a charge or drive all the way to either coast on gas is a wonderful compromise. I like our Prius very much and wonder what Toyota could do with the existing design and advancing battery technology like lithium batteries if they put their resources to it.

An example of having the control of choice might be what we do for our home heating situation as this is similar to not being captive to gasoline prices for our cars. We have a gas furnace, coupled with an electric heat pump as well. With our thermostat settings we can control heating with a heat pump (electricity) or gas furnace. I can lock out either system. I do this based on which product does the job more economically. Currently looking at a wood pellet stove for the unfinished basement to possibly give me a third option for heating the house. As a consumer I will be in charge of my energy cost.


Thank you for all who have posted to this thread I had a great deal of enjoyment reading your thoughts and opinions. I hope others will add ever more.

 

o/p's link

you sound like a prime candidate

 

Unless I missed it the article just mentions the mid-gen (4th Gen) tweaks, not 5th Gen. They do speculate 5th Gen could be 2022.

 

You need to make the car compelling to look at to achieve growth. The sales dropping in 2017 and this year is not about gas prices. Every time I see a new Prius on the road I thought, "Wonder how the new Camry will be?" Now we saw the new Corolla for next year, and also loved all of the new Camrys. Thankfully, the new Corolla doesn't have the enormous bug catcher grill, neither does the Rav4. Rear lights of next year's Prius I won;t laugh at like the current model, same with the front end.

The new architecture allows Toyota to move forward. You don't have to have an ugly car that's a tad smaller to get good gas mileage. Toyota knows this, and some of the new Prius is a testament to that. Even the gross white plastic inside is gone.

 

if you want max mpg's, it is still prius. but those people are already owners

 

The new 2020 Corolla will be a good choice, and I suspect many that hate the looks of the Prius will go there. I've heard that the Corolla hybrid will be a few thousand more, which will make little sense to most people.

 

There are just so many distractions. Prius is not the only hybrid in town anymore and have to share the hybrid concept with other companies and with other Toyota models. Take a look at the Camry Rav4, Avalon hybrid, which I haven't checked yet, are their numbers down also. The hybrid market is now diluted like a pot of soup with too much water.

 

And those that want truly max mpg's (or mpge's) have already moved on from Prius

 

I went from diesels to a Prius, to a PiP, to a Volt and now, I added a Spark EV. I don't have any interest in something that doesn't plug in, anymore.

 

agreed