I just saw these sales #s for the Prius on Priusonline. It's strange to me that the numbers in '06 are running well below the monthly average for '05. For instance, from Dec. '05 to Jan. '06 sales fell by around 1400 units. And that is with the favorable '06 tax credit now in place. And Feb. & Mar. '06 were both lower than same month sales for '05. Strange and surprising. Anyone have any ideas? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales of Prius units by month Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. Retail Sales (includes fleet and Hawaii) of Prius: mon yr sales cYTD Mar 06 7,922 22,123 Feb 06 6,547 14,201 Jan 06 7,654 7,654 Total units of Prius sold in the US, from launch through Dec 05: 228,591 mon yr sales cYTD Dec 05 9,027 107,897 Nov 05 7,889 98,870 Oct 05 9,939 90,981 Sep 05 8,193 81,042 Aug 05 9,850 72,849 Jul 05 9,691 62,999 Jun 05 9,622 53,308 May 05 9,461 43,686 Apr 05 11,345 34,225 Mar 05 10,236 22,880 Feb 05 7,078 12,644 Jan 05 5,566 5,566
I sorta heard a rumor that Toyota might be making less prii because they really want to sell their camry hybrids.. but I can be wrong.
There have been some speculation on this board that busyrosy is right. Well, actually, the discussion didn't include busyrosy, but it was two-fold: Toyota is stealing some production time from the Prius to ramp up the Camry and people are holding off on buying the Prius in anticipation of buying a Camry (or at least making a side-by-side comparison).
Obviously, since they sell every Prius they can make (Priuses on lots are very rare) the sales figures are the production numbers. I drove a (conventional) Camry once. I was not impressed. I'll be sticking with my Prius.
Toyota stated a while ago that there would be no increase in Prius Production over 05, and that parts and production capacity were being diverted, at least for a while, to the Camry.
I'm not sure how it is in other states but in Virginia there may have been a decline recently because people were worried that Hybrids would no longer be alowed on HOV lanes after July. Now that they have extended it for another year the VA sales will increase.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TimBikes @ Apr 26 2006, 01:18 AM) [snapback]245361[/snapback]</div> When I picked up my 2005 on 1/2/06 I believe the dealer indicated the December 2005 sales quota covered sales through 1/3/06. I think this was due to everyone waiting to pick up their new car after the 2006 tax credit went into effect. He got credit for the sale in his December sales quota so he had no problem with me waiting to sign all the paperwork on 1/2/06. That might account for the high Dec 05 numbers and lower Jan 06 numbers. Springtime
