Prius Sales Tank Even With Higher Gas Prices

Its Great it worked out for you, buying a first mod year. Maybe Toyota is different,, Maybe.. Many a 2013 Dart owners had few to none problems too, but then,, there were the many others.... We did actually --> "buy a lemon", every manufacturer is bound to have them. (Some manufacturers more than others)... I have found "warranties" can be deceiving. Yes, they give you a peace of mind knowing your covered for the $$ expense. But after 15 visits to the Dodge service shop, in 14 months of owning our Dart, I can not tell you how many hours were wasted of my life sitting in that waiting area! Or the $$ of gas to go there, and the $$ of meals while waiting.... Sure, it was covered by the warranty! Good think I am retired, and had the time to waist. At lease the 4th Gen Prius will have such a long history to build upon. Maybe they will even get a better Nav system on board? But "New" also comes with potential problems.... For me,, I learned my lesson about new mod years. I am not willing to be the guinea pig again.

 

Yes, the Dart certainly had problems. Putting the 2.5 engine in that car was silly as well, and they're phasing it out. Hate to see an economy car get pi$$ poor fuel economy, defeats the purpose. Thankfully, Toyota's not Dodge. One of the Prime reasons I own Toyotas, the lack of dealer vista in 25 plus years.

 

If you live in mountainous or hilly country you can just forget about gas mileage because you are not going to get any with anything. Coast down one side of a mountain and you get terrific MPG but when you go up the other side you lose everything you gained plus more.

 

True to a point but in a Prius you'll get 20 mpg going up whereas a truck that would only get 20 mpg on the highway is not going to get 20 mpg going up a hill, it's going to get 5 mpg or less. So even in an extreme example you've given, the Prius will still have some gain.

And unless you're going up a super steep mountain track fully loaded you can usually ease off the accelerator a little and get some slight benefit in economy.

 

My take....

1. More "hybrid" and electric cars on the market...none seem to be as good as the Prius, but it's siphoning off customers from Toyota.

2. We are NOT in a good economy. 0% APR = Desperate to move units. Had I known I was going to be laid off, I would not have bought my Prius when I did. ALL CAR SALES are hurting. Everyone is desperate to make a deal.

3. For all its value, the Prius is a bit on the pricy side of what's available. Other gas-conserving ICE cars are out there for less money than the base model Prius.

 

If you are talking about terrain that depletes the battery down to purple going up and fills the battery past full on the way down I can agree with you. For less impressive but still hilly terrain like I live in the MPG is pretty damned good (TM).

My most latest 90 mile drive in Southern Colorado netted 56 MPG in our Prius vagon.

 

We're looking to make a deposit on a Florida property this week Sage. No question my mileage will be fantastic down there.

 

All the best. Try to find some land above sea level

 

I think that's pretty impressive. I kind of nixed the V because the rated mileage was lower, maybe I need to reconsider when and if we trade.

 

Parts of the pacific NW and Colorado are the same. The upcoming Prius with AWD might give them an attractive alternative.`

 

I end up with higher MPG than most. Figure a 10% hit from whatever you are getting in your Prius.

 

That makes sense then. Thanks.

 

We just moved from FL to CA and the difference is shocking. The Prius MPG dropped around 10% but my RX400h drops 20%. It hates the CA gas.

 

We are in a V loner now and are getting 40 mpg which is what our 2010 package 5 with 17" wheels gets. I hope the new inverter improves MPG.

 

I guess my question in regards to the headline of this thread, is how much of this current "slump" in Prius sales, is Prius sales "tanking" and how much is the inevitable leveling off of sales?

Keep in mind that the last 4 years of Prius....have been extraordinarily dynamic. The release of the Gen 3, was like a huge hybrid party, and resulted in a large number of 1st time Prius buyers, as well as long time owners, that eagerly upgraded.

I was hanging around Prius Chat during that time, and the anticipation of the 3rd Gen Prius was so passionate that it was part of the reason I became so interested in hybrids and Prius. I don't know if Toyota will be able to duplicate that level of interest and anticipation with the Gen 4 release.- It will be interesting to watch.

Then Toyota came along with the Prius "family" and expanded the whole brand.

It doesn't surprise me that this is a relatively quiet time in Prius sales.

But I would expect, The Gen 4 release to create new interest. I would expect ebbs and flow in sales.

And even though, I don't care...savings is savings...efficiency is efficiency, I've noted that since I bought my Prius, gas prices have been amazingly stable. We really haven't had that period where suddenly gas prices are rising on a daily or weekly basis. If for whatever reason, the market once again enters a period where you have those painful increases, on a rapid basis...which eventually I think is inevitable, then I would expect a re-awakening of interest in not only Prius, but all the alternatives that have come to exist in the entire industry.

But in the meantime? Whatever Prius sales might be doing on paper, I'm still very happy to have one of the most efficient gasoline burning vehicles it is possible to own.

 

IMHO, the number of people willing to purchase a relatively expensive fuel-efficient hybrid is somewhat finite (as a percent of driver population) and I think the market has kind of reached that plateau, if you will. From what I've read, all sales of hybrids are down with some down more than others. If the impact on Prius is more than most, I think it's because there is now more competition. It's also apparent that the Prius provides many more years of trouble-free service making it less likely that owners will trade up as early as they used to.

Then too, I think the Prius design is a drawback. Very few potential buyers bother to really examine the specs and can't get past the unusual design, even though profiles of many cars in the class are pretty darned close. Heck, even current Prius owners don't help much with comments about rear window visibility, etc. FWIW, I see nothing wrong with the window, it's just different and takes some time to get used to. But then, I may rely more on my mirrors that those who complain. Those who do look at specs, see things like 1.5" less shoulder room without giving a lot of thought to what that really means in every day service. Toyota itself doesn't do a very good job highlighting the overall value of the Prius because they haven't had to. The Prius is still the mpg king, but as more cars get closer with similar options for less money, the difference in mpg doesn't seem that great to a lot of customers. I see people here tout their weekend rides, Corvette's, Mustangs, etc., but I don't see many direct comparisons to comparable cars.

Motor Week will tout the "fun" in driving another brand small car while dismissing the mpg difference, oftentimes not even mentioning it in passing. Why? Because so many want fun, not practical. My brother bought a Sonata Blue only because it looks sportier. He didn't care that it gets 10 mpg less, has less cargo space for his annual trip to Florida, etc. I drive it when we visit them in Florida and I much prefer the Prius. The only thing my wife likes over the Prius is the rear seat air vents at the back of the console. I dislike the trunk with a passion, but if it were a hatchback too, I still would have bought a Prius for the mpg. Given the competition Toyota is going to have to up their game unless they're satisfied with a certain percent of the market. My concern is how close is the next technology that will put the Prius to shame and kill resale values?

 

The Prius design is flawless. Whoever thinks otherwise, just look at the Gen 1 Prius, still looks pretty good and better than some of the new cars out there.

The Prius is still mpg king. No matter how you look at. My uncle just bought a 2014 I4 Accord, a non-hybrid, and of course its more economical than an average 10 year old car, but its getting a whopping 30mpg in the city? That is a big difference between the Prius. Unless you're getting a hybrid or a Volt, the Prius is still beats them all.

 

cipsaz, I wasn't giving a personal opinion on design, I happen to agree with you, except maybe about the Gen I because it's not a hatchback.

 

Depends which market you're refering to. Prius sales have reduced significantly over here though the Auris hybrid has taken some of them. Many of the new diesels of similar size to the Prius actually beat it for combined mpg's. Sure most will only achieve those when driven like a granny, but that applies to the Prius too. They're manual transmissions but as these account for 75% of all car sales in the UK that won't be a problem with buyers. With petrol between $8 & $9 a gallon we have to eek out every drop.

So Toyota had better do some real fancy work to make the gen4 Prius the most economical car over here like the gen3 once was. Some diesels are now getting over 90 mpg UK on the official testing compared to the Prius 74 mpg. Even assuming they'll only get about 75% of that (like the Prius), those are still amazing figures. Emissions of these new Euro 6 diesels are now virtually the same as the Prius for Nox.