Prius - 3 million sold worldwide

Thanks!

One set of data from their table has me wondering:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
0	[th]Region[th]NHW10-11[th]NHW20[th]ZVW30+
1	[tr][td]Japan[td2]65	000[td2]360	000[td2]899	000
2	[tr][td2]Japan %/N. America %[td2]55%/45%[td2]35%/65%[td2]60%/40%
3	[tr][td]North America[td2]52	000[td2]683	000[td2]600	000

Source: http://www2.toyota.jp/en/news/13/07/0703.pdf

What I find interesting is the relative sales of the ZVW30+ taking in Japan and relative softening in North America. Ford and others offer some competition found in North America but not enough to explain all of the nearly 300,000 unit difference. It also explains why the Mississippi plant is not making Prius.

It might be enlightening to see the break down of the three Prius models in the Japanese and North American markets since 2010.

Bob Wilson

 

Only 341,000 units sold elsewhere. Funny that Europe does have it's own hybrid plant for Auris, the price does resemble that, with estate Auris being bigger than Prius and costing € 6.000 less.

 

The Prius Liftback is the defacto standard of hybrid cars and it has a market niche similar to Apple's classic Mac of long ago.

 

I would only add:

• power of a Prius v
• efficiency of a Prius c
• priced between the two

The hatchback really is in a sweet-spot.

Bob Wilson

 

I see a Prius or 20 every week around here, it's like they've all blossomed when compared to last year.

 

Same here in deep south. Numbers of new Prius cars on the road exploded this summer. They are still rare, but gaining rapidly. I like to think that my responsible driving (ie: high speed and fast acceleration from the lights) helped contradict the "slow prius" myth. I also noticed that a few coworkers bought prius too. I was the first.

 

Bob it is quite easy to find macro differences. Let us first start with export, during the launch more cars were kept in japan, during the tsunami shut down more cars were kept in japan, during the thai flooding shortage more cars were kept in japan. Toyota chose to sell more to its home market during these shortages, which simply makes sense, especially in light of the strong yen. If there had been north american production there certainly would be higher sales, contradicting your point about the Mississippi plant. Some cars may have even been exported from the US to Japan.

Other factors, involve a mismatch in periods, the gen II had a longer period (2003-2009) than the gen III. Tax policy also is reflected, in Japan gasoline is taxed at a much higher rate, and pay lower taxes, giving them an economic advantage versus ICE vehicles. The Japanese government has instituted 3 tax credits that encouraged hybrid sales since the gen III was launched in Japan. There is also less competition in Japan from other automakers. Toyota now enjoys a 50% market share in Japan versus less than 15% in the US. With all these factors US prius sales are quite good.

There is part of the rub, now isn't it. In Japan the aqua is not a prius, and is now the best selling car. The prius liftback was leading the japanese market while there were tax credits for it, and aqua production couldn't keep up with demand. In the US the best selling toyota is the camry.

You can see yearly sales of the prius family in the US and canada here
Toyota Prius Family Sales Figures - GOOD CAR BAD CAR
And click the links on that page to find prius liftback, prius c, prius v, prius phv broken down. I don't know an easy source for prius and aqua sales in Japan for all those years.

 

Great link. What exactly happened in 2012 that can explain almost doubling of prius sales in US ( and almost +400% in Canada?)

 

2011 had reduced shipments from the Japanese tsunami then the thai flood. 2012 had the prius c and prius phv added, and the prius v for the full year. Toyota dealers also had stock unlike the year before, so were making deals instead of asking full sticker on limited choices.

I don't really understand canadian sales, perhaps tideland prius or one of the other canadian members will add to the discussion.

 

Perhaps Japan got out if the recession before North America.