2020 Prime Not on the list for CarPlay, AndroidPlay, Alexa

If we do get a mid-cycle update for Prime... which is looking more and more likely... that announcement then would be the best means of promoting that new addition.

 

What are you basing the likely mid-cycle refresh on? And when do you think those cars are coming?

I am in the market for a Prime right now and I don't want to regret not having waited a few more months.

 

Waiting is a challenge. Some people don't like the idea that Prius is morphing into more of an affordable sport/luxury design, rather than remaining the family-mover it started as. That's the reality of a changing market though. RAV4 is quickly becoming the hybrid of choice for that family audience. So, have some realistic of expectations of what adaptations could be offered.

Knowing the shift is underway, it makes you question the direction Prius really will take. From Toyota's extensive history of pushing affordable emission & consumption reduction for Prius, it makes sense that they use the second-half of this product-cycle for Prius Prime as the staging opportunity to make it a plug-in only. Can Toyota attract enough buyers that way for the next-gen to be a high-volume profitable seller? I say: "Yes!"

Evidence supporting that builds upon more awareness of history. Toyota likes to do mid-cycle updates. Prius PHV (gen-1 Prime) was in fact that. It was also a limited rollout as a result of carefully watching market change. In that case, it was the disaster GM was dealing with trying to figure out how to configure Volt. All these years later, we see that GM failed to deliver something for the masses... as confirmed by production ending and the tax-credit reduction taking place. The timing is a great happenstance for Toyota, exactly when a 2020 model with a mid-cycle update could be revealed.

Notice how 2018 inventory was burned down and 2019 inventory has been almost non-existent? Though it could all be an amazing set of unplanned circumstances, this certainly looks like far more than just a coincidence. Think of how perfect an Earth Day announcement it could be, especially if rollout follows shortly afterward.

Want more to consider? Think about the timing of rollout for Corolla hybrid. It's just a little too much to dismiss as just dumb luck that everything is falling into place so nicely.

 

So you are thinking they might go to a full EV rather than Plug-in hybrid, not as an additional option, but as the only choice when it comes to Prime? I don't think they are there yet.

I was thinking more along the lines of increasing electric miles or some other cool useful thing.

Just looked up Earth Day. Looks like it's April 22. What would you do if you were in the market for a Prime right now?

Btw, I would not be buying a pure EV right now, but a longer electric range would definitely be nice!

 

i suspect there wee so many 2018's not selling, they held off on 2019 production.

 

No, we are looking at the paradigm-shift from hybrid to plug-in hybrid. There's strong potential for them in the mainstream, even without next-gen battery advancement, like to solid-state.

EV market development is still its infancy. Dependency on tax-credit subsidies and early-adopters for sales makes that reality all too clear.

Hybrids, on the other hand, are a mature market, at the ready to advance to plug-in models as the next natural step. That's vital for reaching ordinary consumers.

 

That doesn't make any sense. Some regions without any inventory whatsoever are waiting for what?

 

idk, someone to ship the boatloads in the northeast to them?

 

There were never that many. Look at the rest of the dealer's inventory for a reality check. Then study thev economic strategy of staged rollouts. It's all perfectly normal.

Heck, even this topic of Android & Apple software support falls into that approach nicely. Think bigger and longer term.

 

There's always something newer on the way.

In our case, we have his & hers 2017 Primes ...and that's just fine. When the next-gen model comes along in a few years, then we'll weigh options.

 

it's hard to think big picture and long term when you don't have any official information

 

That is quite incorrect. There are clues. It's a matter of how much you want to invest in the effort to find them.

 

what is the, hide and seek?

 

i prefer straight talk. i don't know what 'clues' are out there, but no one seems to know if prime is getting CarPlay or not

 

For me, I don't care about CarPlay. I never buy Apple products.

I would care about a flat back seat and longer electric range though, and a locked charging port on the base model.

Not sure it's worth the wait though, since those things might not be coming, and might not be coming anytime soon.

 

Why in the world would Toyota implement a AWD Prius dependent on NiMH, then drop it a month later for a Prime only strategy dependent on LiIon?