Featured Organized Attempt to End Competition From Prius?

So - choices other than the Prius are bad? ...... just a 'con job' ? distance before refueling is the compelling rational to buy a car?
Was my average speed 75mph when we drove over 710 miles on a single tank fill?


or under 35mph.

can't choices ever be a good thing? How else can we comfortably drive around with 6 or 7 people - or pull a 2½ ton boat .... or other non-urban stuff. Ironically - it's not the oil industry's political pact that's hell-bent on destroying the beneficial use of petrol cars. Talk to the politicians.
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My suspicion is the new PRIUS c will be the precursor of a new PRIUS - with the same battery technology, and the same 15+% improvement in efficiency.

Taken to it's (illogical) extreme - use 15% less fuel with each iteration, by 2183, the PRIUS will be perpetual motion with NO FUEL. HeeHee. Nope - that's not quite going to happen. But - 15% better was significant between Gen 2&3, and between 3&4. I can't see PRIUS being pensioned off.

It's been the "test bed" for Corolla Hybrid. When I bought my Gen 4 in 2016, TOYOTA Australia had just released the COROLLA Hybrid hatch. It was based on the Gen 3. Finally, 3 years or so after Gen 4 PRIUS, a new COROLLA Hybrid was released based on Gen 4.

 

The only 'organized' are the honorable competition, engineers. Sad to say, Toyota failed to add capabilities that others have added:

• 2014 BMW i3-REx - the control laws put a hard limit on running the engine down to ~5%. In contrast, the 'EV' mode in our former, 2017 Prius Prime had all sorts of exceptions, especially below 55 F that would trick the engine into running.
• eCVT vs straight gears - although the Prius Prime had electric motors that could work together, the transmission was larger than an equivalent, single motor of similar power. The straight gear reduction of our Tesla Model 3 is significantly smaller and lighter with far fewer moving parts.
• 52-57 MPG is too high - my Tesla Model 3 cost $2.75/100 miles around town. Retail gasoline is ~$2.75 so I'm getting an operational cost of 100 MPG.

We owned and operated Prius from October 2005 through March 2019. Compared to any ICE vehicle, they were quiet, efficient cars. But with Tesla and some of the other EVs, their engineers have advanced beyond the Prius and current Toyota products.

Bob Wilson

 

I’m not following you. What attempts?

Prius sales are deep sixing on their own.
Nobody wants them .
The only reason Toyota will kill Prius is lack of sales, like any vehicle

 

Prius sales started their big decline in 2014, and mostly follow the price of gas.
More hybrid choices played a part, but the flipside of that is people only bought the Prius because there wasn't other fuel efficient options.
Without the Prime, Prius sales would be worse.
If others are to be blamed, look to Toyota themselves. They have more hybrid models, in forms people actually want, than anybody else. The Rav4h sales steadily climb as Prius ones drop.

In most of the country, a plug in does as well, or better, as a Prius when it comes to carbon emissions. That's figured on data at least two years old. The level of coal has dropped, and renewables increased since then.

 

Probably because you paid $20,000 for one and you feel you need to validate your purchase.

It's similar to the "organized effort" to kill minivans, mullets, Palm Pilots, VCRs, etc....

Prius sales are plummeting (recent spike notwithstanding) because they're sedans, and while they're pretty good at being econoboxes for commuting purposes, they pretty much SUCK at other things.

Kid hauling (just because you CAN put a baby into a sedan doesn't mean that it's as easy as doing so with a CUV!)
Cargo ops.
Long trips.
etc....

People are simply willing to take the MPG hit with other rides and not have to look up at the rear bumpers of all of the other vehicles in traffic.....or worry about fording that puddle or climbing out of the next pothole....or having to fold themselves into a low-slung car when they suffer from mobility issues...or getting into an accident and being LEFT with mobility issues...or....or....or...
The disadvantage of living in a relatively free capital driven society is that even when dot.gov interferes egregiously with the marketplace, they still cannot compel people to develop, and build or even buy stuff that they really do not want.


Markets are pretty good at deciding these sorts of things, and for the people that aren't trend followers?
You can STILL buy a minivan.....and (for now?) a wireless Prius.

You're about half-right, IMHO.

 

Maybe a fine point, but they're hatchbacks? I do see a gulf, between the Prius hatchack format and ubiquitous CUV/SUV's.

I concur with the plummeting sales, as others have in this thread. as to why they're plummeting, I'd attribute it to the polarizing 4th gen design. I was really anticipating the 4th gen, and when it arrived, ugh.

 

@styling...

THAT didn't do them ANY favors.
As I've often said.....BEAUTY is only skin deep but UGLY goes all the way to the bone!

@ hatchback....

Most CUVs are ALSO hatchbacks....or minivans without the sliding side doors which ALSO have hatch backs.

It's all about the public perceptions.
As it SHOULD be.
It's THEIR money.

The government tries its best to jigger the system.
An econobox with a hatch is actually MORE EXPENSIVE to build than a notchback, and it's orders of magnitude more useful.
You even get to call a "small" car "medium-size" for those with "size" issues, because the EPA says that if there's a bulkhead, or EVEN a foldable seat between the people and the cargo, and if the part that opens is oriented vertically instead of horizontally then that makes a difference in how "big" the car is.

AND YET....
Tell somebody that their $30,000 CUV is a "hatchback" and you might get some interesting reactions.

People are funny like that....

 

Fuel efficiency just isn't the most important thing to a US consumer. It is to me but sleeping next to me is someone who thinks style and space is more important. (Not necessarily in that order.) There is no concerted effort to kill the Prius. In fact, I think Toyota is trying to save it by implementing HSD into as many other platforms as possible. Maybe if fuel costs $10 a gallon? At $4 a gallon, they might just go electric. You and I are amazed by 700 miles per tank but we are sadly in the minority.

P.S. Begrudging sold my Prius in 2018.

 

i'm just glad i got one before they're gone. wish i had purchased a prime back when, because they are almost gone, along with the sweet promo's.

then again, i wish i had invested in real estate a year ago, who knew?

 

After the PRII is discontinued is When gas prices will get unbearable again .

What people “want” can change overnight

 

Not too many days ago, one of our beloved moderators started a thread on reasons for the Prius sales dropping.;

Here’s Why The 2021 Toyota Prius Has Become An Undesirable Electrified Car | PriusChat

As john would say, "know your audience". Thing is, nowadays the audience is governmental mandates. But if sheep roll over & keep the governmental's in power .... we get what we get.
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The window sticker for my gen2 called it a sedan. Historically, hatchbacks had a slight stigma here because they were generally the low end car of a brand's line up.

Then the gen4's style meant a profile that was more sedanish. At a time when being a hatchback might have helped vs SUV sales.

 

who should we have voted for to increase prius sales?

 

The issue is pretty clear cut to me as far as 'Prius' sales declining :

• First of all, there are FAR more hybrid options these days...not only from Toyota...but others as well. Seems pretty logical that is cutting into Prius sales.

• Secondly, people 'traded up' to MUCH larger vehicles when gasoline was 'cheap'. However, I think we are at a turning point now that gas prices are up. People are now, it seems, starting to trade down to smaller vehicles. At least I have seen quite a few small cars around my neck of the woods...an on a couple of recent road trips.

The good news is that Toyota HSD sales are thriving. Frankly, I could give a crap about the Prius 'brand'.

 

The sun is indeed setting on the Prius... The Hybrid system is available in other more popular Toyota models that look like normal cars and the cross-eyed design team for Prius has consistently made the Prius uglier and uglier with each iteration. That's its true cause of death sometime in the 2020's.

As for your argument that Prius is better than an electric car and that the transition to solar and no-fossil fuels is still 10-15 years away I say you're about a decade behind the times of both electric car advancement, as well as consumer demand.

Look at how many people are on waiting lists for all electric cars across the market... Prius days are ending because the transition stage from fossil fuels to electric cars is at the first stage of finally ending.

 

i'm still waiting for evidence of the 'organised attemp'. otherwise, it's just another conspiracy theory, in a long line of conspiracy theories

 

Conspiracy theories are like cookies, they tend to crumble if you hold them in your hands for too long....

 

HEY ... bwilson4web ... when might you expect that I’ll be able to get a Tesla for 5Gs otd.?!?

I could get real happy for that idea.

This 2005-G2 is tuned and tweaked to the edge. It’s got over 162,000 laps and it’s giving me ave. 60-mpg. ... I LOVE IT.

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