Featured OH No! Toyota Might Ditch the Prius c, v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) and Plug-In Hybrid

Toyota Prius Family May Shrink As Low Gas Prices Dim Allure

So, what are your thoughts?

 

Only Prius C is Aqua/Yaris in other regions.
Prius V is still "Prius" worldwide.

 

I have no loyalty to the name 'Prius' but huge loyalty to the efficiency. So if the Toyota miniVans would get a Prius drive train and called 'the Cabbage', I would give it serious consideration.

Personally, I think the whole Toyota line should be a mix of gassers and hybrids. The wrapper really doesn't matter as long as the hybrid delivers the MPG. Heck, I'm even OK with a range of fuel efficiency packages that could even include Miller-cycle engines.

Bob Wilson

 

Great news to my ears: "The new Prius Plug-In Hybrid will likely arrive by this summer, and it's possible we'll see it as early as the 2016 New York Auto Show next month."

 

Prius (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) and Rav4 hybrid have two different markets.
Yes Prius (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) has been selling slowly, maybe the price was bit high, but there is no other hybrid 7seat-MPV in Europe...

 

I took a look at a Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) and was unimpressed. The design is less interesting than the Prius 3rd gen, and it has less combined front and back legroom too. That shocked me. It has an enormous cargo storage space in comparison to the Prius, but less than a RAV4, including the RAV4 Hybrid.

I'm told the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) in North America is designed like this because it's basically the Asian/European Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) without the third row, which kind of makes it seem like an afterthought.

In Canada, I would not miss the loss of the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) at all, And I wouldn't miss the Prius c either to be honest. It's essentially a Yaris Hybrid, but I don't think it's worth spending the extra money on a Hybrid in that price class in North America. Keep the Prius, and push the RAV4 Hybrid.

BTW, for the record, we own a Plug-in Prius, and a RAV4 Hybrid.

 

Here in Vancouver BC the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) is used for a fairly good percentage of the taxi fleet. I'd guess that about 75-80% of our taxis are Priuses, and maybe about 10-15% of the entire fleet are Prius v's (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon).

But I've also heard that Yellow Cabs is looking to start experimenting with fully electric vehicles now that their range is getting up to what's required for a day's worth of service. So it could be that they'll be switching to something like the Chevy Bolt or the Tesla Model 3 over the coming years unless Toyota comes up with an alternative.

 

I think where Toyota may have gone astray is in making the v a separate design rather than making a wagon body compatible with all of the other interior and exterior parts. A wagon body version of the Gen-IV that still looked like a Gen-IV can still be called a v while saving Toyota buckets of cash in new tooling and parts inventories.

 

this is over reaction to fuel prices on toyotas part, and i hope they are not being short sighted. the rav4 may be great and a great seller, but with mpg's in the low to mid 30's, what will happen when fuel starts to rise again?

 

I agree with the "loyalty to efficiency" concept.
Efficiency is the reason Hybrids appealed to me.
I can't find the thread now, but earlier this morning there was a thread with a link to an article about Toyota adjusting the projections for The Prius "family" of vehicles.
There was a disturbing (to me) quote from Jim Lentz-( I think ) about waiting to see how the Hybrid Rav 4 did, in relationship to the future of The Prius v. He even goes so far as to say the Hybrid Rav 4 could replace the Prius v.
Well like you, I suppose I don't care about the name....but I do care about efficiency. And The Hybrid Rav 4's projected MPG's are pretty disappointing with a combined MPG in the mid 30's. Not much better than many small ICE SUV's already on the market.

I don't panic. But perhaps the most disturbing element to me in these recent articles hinting at a reduction of support for Hybrids and Prius, is that IMO in the past, Toyota has shown amazing loyalty and support for Prius and Hybrids, through good times and bad. When considering a Hybrid, it's one of the reasons I bought a Prius and NOT some other manufacturers hybrid option.

If Toyota should shrink The Prius family, I'd be disappointed because I would feel it was a reactionary move based on temporary conditions, primarily lower fuel prices. Remember not so long ago, when all automakers seemed to be battling to gain as much "Green Cred" as possible. I wanted to believe that they were doing that in the best interest of the planet, ecology and the future.

If gas prices drop, and demand wanes...and Toyota reacts by diminishing their support for Prius and Hybrids, then I'm disappointed in Toyota and the automobile industry in general.

Where's the commitment to growing efficiency? Where's the moving forward to a cleaner and better future. If all it takes is a year or two of lower gas prices to derail that commitment? Then I'm disappointed.

 

It's good news to hear we still have a new PiP2 coming!! But that conflicts another article that may have been faulty.

v would definitely be a consideration for us I would like to see v continue. As with all new cars in my house, it would be my significant other's to drive the most and I don't think she wants the RAV4 so I'd like to keep the v. I suppose we'd look at Camry hybrid too as TCH was really my first thought but we got the Prius instead.

 

Just posted similar thoughts in the "Toyota Prius Family May Shrink" thread.

I would personally NOT put a lot of stock in the Hybrid Rav 4 with the MPG numbers it supposedly gets. Mazda and Honda both offer ICE small SUV's that rival those type of MPG return.

I don't want to panic. At this point it's mostly just Toyota making realistic reductions in sales projections. Something they must do.
But I don't like some of the tone of commentary from Toyota executives. I hope I'm simply misreading it, or taking it out of context.

 

no quotes in this article, so i have to question the pips imminent arrival and futme too. i would hate to spend my time here, just to criticize toyota like a few other members.

 

I don't perceive too many people, or any...here just to criticize Toyota.
But legitimate discussion and debate needs to keep a critical viewpoint.

I hope I applaud what I think Toyota does right with Prius...and that is considerable.
I won't shrink from criticism if I think it's earned and valid.

 

you haven't spent much time in the plug in/fcev threads, apparegonna be tough to stuff people in a bolt, or pay for a tesla.

 

Bolt isn't any smaller than the Prius/Leaf why do we have to stuff them in?

90 cu ft 2012 Leaf
91 cu ft 2016 Prius (Gen 4)
94 cu ft 2010 Prius (Gen 3)
94.4 cu ft 2017 Bolt
96 cu ft 2005 Prius (Gen 2)

Sure it's slightly smaller than my Gen 2 Prius that's 10+ years old but it's larger passenger space than most newer Prius and definitely more passenger space than my Leaf.

 

I miss the bad ol' days, you called for a cab, a Crown Vic showed up. Recall fondly scratching my hands up, trying to dig the seat belt buckle outa the seat cushions.

 

Prius v sales are not the greatest in North America. Furthermore, I know just about nobody who has even a little inkling of interest in the Prius v. OTOH, the RAV4 Hybrid piques the interest of a lot of people.

I don't know what you mean about the RAV4 Hybrid not being efficient. OK, not vs a regular Prius, but it's an AWD vehicle that is both roomier than the Prius v and has more cargo space, and does way, way better than any SUVs of its size class in terms of fuel economy. The Prius v still beats the RAV4 in terms of fuel economy by a significant margin, but if that really matters that much to you then you're probably better off going with the regular Prius in most cases.

And I think that's how the market is going to shake out. This RAV4 Hybrid is indeed the functional replacement for the Prius v, and will also sell way, way, way more units than the Prius v. For those who want better fuel economy, they will choose the Prius.

As I've illustrated before, the Prius v design is crippled by its 3-row focus elsewhere. The lack of legroom makes it inappropriate IMO for families with small children, when rear-facing child car seats are used. Strangely enough, there is actually LESS room in the Prius v than there is in the regular Prius for this purpose. The opposite is true for the RAV4 Hybrid. It's noticeably more spacious inside the RAV4 Hybrid than a regular 3rd generation Prius (or Prius Plug-in in our case) and the Prius v, with lots of height and cargo room too, great for families with small kids.

Aside from the fuel economy, the RAV4 Hybrid is the more appropriate family car. I suspect with the introduction of the RAV4 Hybrid, Toyota estimates that this will significantly eat into Prius v sales, because I betcha one big reason some people bought the Prius v was only because a RAV4 Hybrid didn't exist. In fact, I might even predict that the RAV4 Hybrid will become Toyota's best selling hybrid in a few years, while the Prius v will slowly dwindle in sales from its already unimpressive numbers.

Note that while the design may alleviate some of the problems with the Prius v in a 2016 model, I still don't think it would get nearly enough interest now that the RAV4 Hybrid is out, unless the Prius v is completely rethought.

 

While I understand the corporate economics of such a decision, as long as I get 10 years of support for my current '12 v I'll be satisfied. And by then I'll see if I'm still alive, still driving and what is available.

I traded in a CRV 4WD so I'm not opposed to crossovers (I wanted it for the weather where I used to live .. see recent pictures of a paralyzed DC) and the difference in mileage would put the cost of gas at an equivalence of $2.13 a gallon at today's prices to go the same miles I get with the v paying $1.739.

I realize 34 isn't much compared to the 50s some of you average but it is 50% more than my CRV ever got.

 

It'll be good to see Prius continue the Pip.
I've been very critical of the G3 Pip (sorry Bisco!) but I'm liking the competition of 3-4 PHEVs in the US Market.
The new Prius seems to be delivering on real-world improvements to their efficiency.....and without a budget-busting increase in price. I don't like it personally, but many people poo-poohed the G3 when IT came out, and I'm not going to be buying a G4 - so they can do whatever they want to with it.

What WILL be a game changer (for some) is if Toyoa puts a G4 Pip on the streets without a $40K price tag mated with a 10mile EV ability.
In other words, if they play to the G4's strengths (efficiency and hopefully long term reliability) and they keep the price reasonable, THEN you will have something.

Motor Trend brought up something recently in an article that I just read that I failed to consider when I was opining on the long term viability of the Prius family.........
CAFE.

Toyota is a truck and SUV company.
They may need 40 and 50MPG vehicles in the inventory to make up for all of those 19MPG trucks.

We'll see.......