Gen 4 Prius Delayed Until Late 2015 | Plug-in Late 2016

I think one of the largest issues is that Toyota announced the details of the 4th gen way too early. They gave the public feeds and feeds of info (this didn't happen with the 3rd gen). We started learning rumors and supposedly this guy talking to this rep, but the thing is, the President of Toyota constantly let details spill out as early as 2012.

Then the test mule, and more details...It's a no wonder Toyota doesn't want to give an official statement about the 4th gen. What they heck would they say after all the planning, and then delay because of the Tsunami (which they said could cause a probably delay). What **is** the reason now?

Styling improvement only yielding 45 mpg and with the new drive 50 mpg? Not good enough? lol

 

I still have original advertising for our 2011 Leaf and it said 100 miles - in reality many people only get mid 70's. Therefore chances are excellent if you hear anyone from Nissan say 150 miles - that means most will do good just to get 130 miles on a new pack. Throw in hills - cold weather and lead footers VIOLA.... real world becomes 105ish miles. After 3yrs you've lost your 1st capacity bar - appx 13% - 15% so now your range is 93/95 miles. Welcome to honest real world experience.
Honesty in auto advertising?
Hydrogen - EV - Plug-in ... heck even standard ICE EPA publishings are often found to be a crock. So .... "IF" there are any EV range improvements on the PiP - wouldn't Toyota want to be riding the coat-tails of those improvements via flaunting range and battery size/improvements via advertising? Or ... might any PiP improvements only serve to make NG reformed - hydrogen money-saving cars seem even more stupid. I HOPE the Gen IV PiP will be vastly improved - but it'll be a shock, considering all of their negative plug-in advertising and how expenditure wise, Toyota appears to be pouring most all their R&D $$$ into hydrogen-cars and its (vastly false) advertising.
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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

That's absolutly vital. Yet, some still only see current buyers.

The 4th generation Prius will be taking on traditional vehicles. Those are the conquest sales being sought, not that from the tiny-slice of the market for plugging in.

It's mainstream consumers be directly targeted, those would otherwise purchase an oridinary engine-only car. That's cannot be stressed enough.

 

Remember, I think the 2nd gen prius had a different mpg rating before the 3rd gen came out. When the 3rd gen came out everyone was educated about real world figures vs inflated EPA figures.

Now, when Nissan says they're aiming for 150 miles, I'm assuming that real world will be closer...like 140 or so. They are also knowingly going to put some cooling elements in the batteries to avoid the problems they've had in hot climates.

Interestingly enough, when Toyota says 50 mpg or 12 miles EV...a lot of people are able to jump above those exceptions.

But regardless, I see a Leaf as a legitimate competitor in an "alternate fuel" market. Charge them with solar panels and go, don't use a drop of gas. I would've bought one if I could go farther.

I actually kind of hoped they would do a 150 miles EV + 200 miles gas to make 350 miles altogether and make it a PHEV.

 

Cars market to a variety of groups.

While early adopters are finding competing products, you are correct that the mainstream market is a much larger market. However, non-hybrids are gaining on hybrids in terms of mpg. No, they won't catch it, but the gap is narrowing.

Toyota will be better off the sooner they can come out with a higher mpg, or lower cost, or both, vehicle.
The closer the competition gets to the current mpg, the smaller that advantage is. And with early adopters starting to find other choices...

 

The competition is other Toyota vehicles.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

Why certain people, like yourself, continue to refuse to acknowledge the market as a whole is truly baffling.

 

That was what GM thought too.

 

Taking on the traditional market directly is the focus for this next release. It's not early adopter time anymore.

 

The only way I see Toyota going after a larger chunk of the traditional market is to lower price, improve performance or handling, or some combination.

Is this what you believe they will be doing?
Or do you believe some other aspect will attract more of the "traditional market".

 

Not sure why you are asking what I've already answered and what we already know, but I'm happy to keep constructive discussion going...

They are working to lower cost and improve appeal.

That's how they'll attract more buyers, which is also the source of much trouble online. Balance of purchase priorities is not often a topic of interest, even though it is vital for high-volume sales.

 

Ya know, it occured to me Toyota may not be so worried getting the 4th Gen here (late) in January of 2016, because ...

there is no direct, carbon copy competition to the Prius liftback.

Look at toyota, hurry scurrying to get a heavily revised (2015) Camry out only 3 years after an all new edition.
Why? Because of the Accord, Altima, Fusion, Sonata .... etc...

Ford had a chance to 'copy' the Prius liftback, but they blew it on the poor selling C-Max Hybrid.

 

Every time I look in the 'Drive' section of the paper, I am reminded why Prius liftback doesn't sell nearly as well as Camry and Corolla ....

teaser sales prices (you know, the '1 at this price ads') ...

'14 prius Two - $21,680

'14 Camry LE - $19,980

'14 Corolla LE - $15,980

Who's not going to save a couple grand upfront and get more power, room, etc ... or save the 6 grand on corolla NOW?

btw, I think a veryhigh percentage of car buyers tell themselves they will get the EPA highway mpgs for each tankload. ...

I never get very close to EPA highway figures in conventional cars. guess I need to take more road trips. At the same time, the Prius beats the EPA city/hwy and combined mpgs at the pump, I've found.

Our 05 Accord 4 cyl is rated at 21 city/ 31 highway ... I got 27 actual in mixed driving. It gets one half the MPGs of the Prius.

 

But you will not need hearing aids or a back specialist either with the Accord.

 

Yes - but you can take remedial measures to deal w/ Prius' mediocre seats (lumbar support, seat extenders etc) - but other cars' mileage is harder to increase by 100% ... as for hearing aids - again - remedial measures ... ear plugs

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Simply making more available was a disappointing response. The purpose of achieving permanent growth cannot be fulfilled by just offering more. That alone isn't enough to result in higher sustained sales.

There must be education too. That requires the clever part of marketing. Most often, it's in the form of television commercials with something that stands out to catch consumer attention. Coincidently, Toyota is doing exactly that starting next week. We were told: "The goal is to help educate people about the benefits of Prius PHV in a fun and interesting way."

Remember how I stated that the best next step was to expand within the currently established markets? Toyota's effort to learn how to appeal to a wider audience there is priceless information to know prior to expanding to the larger market.

 

On other words, successful sales increas which can be maintained afterward is the sign that expanding beyond the initial 15 states is realistic.

Otherwise, why would dealers be interested in stocking a vehicle that would only attract a short-term gain?

A brief boom from "early adopters" is not what you want to risk inventory on. Unless a strong case for them is presented, dealers in the other 35 states won't embrace the supposed opportunity. The market must be well established first.

 

So the important thing must be to get Texas as well as other states to follow (often lame) CARB rules.

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