Prius Gen 1 How many made?

You can't compare them. Those were very, very, very different times. Remember, back we were actually encouraged to guzzle? They told us it was "good for the economy".

Prius was fighting the popularity explosion of SUVs, there was almost no concern at all for carbon emissions, gas was cheap, and misconceptions were abundant.

Also, don't forget that "Gen 1" references often exlude the first 3 years of production (98-00 models), since they were in Japan only.
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We can see the data at the Toyota press release site.
TOYOTA: News Releases

(Unit = 1,000 vehicles)

	year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
1	Japan	0.3	17.7	15.2	12.5	11.0	6.7	17.0	59.8	43.7	48.6	58.3
2	Overseas	0	0	0	6.5	18.5	21.4	26.1	66.0	131.5	137.0	223.0
3	NA	0	0	0	5.8	16.0	20.3	24.9	55.9	109.9	109.9	183.8
4	EU	0	0	0	0.7	2.3	0.8	0.9	8.1	18.8	22.8	32.2
5	other	0	0	0	0.01	0.2	0.2	0.4	1.9	2.9	5.3	7.0

Ken@Japan

 

Thanks Ken, do you know if the years represent calendar or model years? 2003 data might be a mixture because of the model change.

DAS

 

mrv(michelle) posted wonderful US data.
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-hybrid-news/41428-toyota-lexus-hybrid-unit-sales-history-usa.html

Code:

Total units of Prius sold in the US, from launch to Dec 03: 66,703
Estimated number of 2004 Prius sold in the US (Oct 03 - Dec 03): 13,694
Estimated number of Classic Prius sold in the US (launch through Sep 03): 53,009
mon yr sales cYTD
Dec 03 4,025 24,627
Nov 03 5,584 20,602
Oct 03 4,085 15,018
Sep 03   112 10,933
Aug 03   299 10,821
Jul 03   657 10,522
Jun 03 1,069  9,865
May 03 1,233  8,796
Apr 03 1,457  7,563
Mar 03 2,532  6,106
Feb 03 1,968  3,574
Jan 03 1,606  1,606

It looks Gen1 was 10.9k and Gen2 was 13.7k, total 24.6k for the US 2003.

I don't have AUG 2003 data for Japan, but...

	month	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
1	Japan	362	446	556	292	294	203	108	?	3	661	3	520	3	478	4	083

It looks Gen1 was 2.3k and Gen2 was 14.7k, total 17.0k for Japan 2003.

Ken@Japan

 

There was the SSC 40G for all Gen1 Prius.
SSC 40G Dealer Letter.pdf
On the page-3 of the letter, it says Toyota sold 884 Gen1 Prius in NC.

Ken@Japan

 

There are known to be some Original (NHW10) Prius in the UK that were imported from Japan (both countries are right-hand drive).

I've seen a few Gen 1 Prius driving around near Maidenhead. One of them bears an 'X' registration plate, meaning it was first registered between September 2000 and March 2001, unless of course the plate was transferred from an older car. I don't think that's likely though as it looks like a random collection of numbers and letters. Still, even that may not be an Original as apparently European sales of the Classic started in September 2000.

Unfortunately for owners of these cars, the new CO2-based road tax banding didn't come in until March 2001. As a result they have to pay the rate for a 1.5 litre engine, now £125/year, rather than the £15/year for 101-120g/km emissions (Gen 1 = 120g/km, Gen 2 = 104g/km). Gen 3 is free (89g/km).

The funny thing is that I didn't 'see' them before buying my own Prius and getting familiar with what Gen 1 looked like. My guess is that I probably thought they were Daewoos!

 

Hi Joe,

According to Michelle V's table that Ken cited, 53K Classic Prius were sold in the US over three model years. I haven't seen recent 2G sales data, but my guess is that ~600K units were sold in the US over six model years.

 

From 2001-2003 the shelf life or Prius on dealer lots was always short AFAIK. This suggests that Toyota could have sold more if they had elected to build them.

 

Until May 2002, the only way to get a Prius was internet-order then months of waiting. Supply was that tight. Then when they did finally hit dealers lots, the duration there was brief. Those were interesting times.

Think about it. When Toyota finally started letting dealers have some control, the supply remained limited... since the next model was already well into development at that point. Only let the die-hard supporters purchase one in the meantime... because even back then we were quite outspoken with our promotion for Prius.
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