Sales trend: Sept to Current, 2012

Same 1.8L with higher thermal efficiency and DI,
Improve drag coefficient,
Use of carbon fiber, roof panel?: Toyota Concept Cars | Toyota Concept Vehicles
Improved Battery mounted low

 

For those who are fuel efficiency in mind pretty much get their hybrids, In order to appeal to the rest of the buying public, looks and power sell.
My wife will not look at a Prius or want one, she likes the look of the RX350 and she wants one.

 

IMO looks means shape of something familiar based on expectation, but also needs to be functional, lower Cd. Toyota needs to improve on these numbers.
Toyota Prius 2000 - 2003 0.29
Toyota Prius 2004 - 2009 0.26
Toyota Prius 2010 - -------0.25
Vehicle Coefficient of Drag List - EcoModder

 

Prius liftback + PiP sales last year fit between Impala and Kia Optima, about 14th place. Ways to go to make top 10.

2012 Year End Top 25 Best-Selling Cars In America - GOOD CAR BAD CAR

 

We may as well look at what the world is buying!
Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog » World Full Year 2012: All the #1 in 170 countries!

 

Prius products = 9th, impala = 14th. You misread thechart.

DBCassidy

 

Cool, thanks. I like this chart better. Top 185 world sales thru 11 months of 2012: btw, Prius liftback is #36 at 346k units

... Corolla is #1 at over 1M units thru 11 months*

Pretty sure Corolla is top selling car of all time worldwide. VW Golf way up there too.

Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog » World 11 months 2012: Discover the Top 185 best-selling models!

 

You misread the post. I said liftback + PiP, in the interest of the upcoming 4th gen (liftback). Yes, the family is 9th place. 36th place in global sales btw thru 11 mo of 2012.

 

Huh?

Gen 4 isn't even out yet, so why are you even mentioning it? You are forecasting with your statement.

DBCassidy

 

Ah, I'm finished thinking of Prius selling like top sedans. That is not even Toyota's goal according to Motortrend interview.

 

So be it. Toyota Prius is increasing market share as time goes on. The PSD design is in 4 Prius platforms currently and will expand. to other product lines. This has been the approach for a number of years: slow and steady.

This has been a success for Toyota, why would they change?

DBCassidy

 

Hybrid market is out of balance, heavily dominated by Toyota (75%) which is good for Toyota, but it shows how immature the segment is.

I look forward to days when the market is much more balanced with a lot more good hybrid, plug in offerings from different manufacturers. Good, affordable choices are limited now compared to conventional cars.

 

From hybrid cars toyota's market share is falling, which is good for growth in the market. Problems from earlier optimistic predictions from the mid 2000s, are costs have not fallen as fast as hoped. Part of this can blamed on toyota's market share - dominant market share meant they could dictate production in high priced Japan. Lack of competition meant they could act more as a monopolist. We can hope the next gen prius will be produced in lower cost america, and competition from ford and hyundai will lower hybrid premium increasing hybrid take rate.

 

I'm liking news at bottom, Honda's first full hybrid, but can they sell hybrids? IMA is virtually dead here.
If only 42 mpg combined, that's fine if accurate and trunk is large. I hope Accord hybrid starts at $27k and they're planning big numbers, IDK. Why do I like Honda? Performance, great engines, make motorcycles, race MotoGP, F1.

This generation of Accord is going to sell like crazy, looks ace and loaded - backup camera, USB, SMS text, bluetooth, 16" alloys on base model, LX for $23.3k sticker w/ CVT, 30 MPG comb, direct injected.

Camry hybrid made in US. My concern with 4 door hybrids is trunk and trunk pass through space. Cam Hy trunk is pretty good, pass through is tiny. Fusion Hy space not good, but pass through better. Prius is so darn practical, no wonder it's top seller.

"Scheduled to go on sale in fall 2013, the new Accord Hybrid will be proudly manufactured at Honda's Marysville, Ohio, auto plant, making it the third hybrid model built by Honda in America[3] and the first in Ohio. Be sure to register for our emails to get all the latest information about the new Accord Hybrid as it becomes available."
Honda Accord Hybrid - Official Site

 

Yep the current camry hybrid built in america, seems to have a lower hybrid premium. It still is $3500, not the $2000 hoped for, but perhaps next generation will bring that down. That new camry hybrid is part of the real growth we are having.

 

Toyotas' market share is not a fluke, nor did they get there by luck or by mistake. Let keep that in mind when looking at the global aspect.

DBCassidy

 

The larger numbers get, the smaller the difference becomes. Also, it's called percentage spin when the market as a whole is not taken into out.

The competition is traditional vehicles, not other hybrids.

892,519 Prius were purchased last year... which means fewer traditional vehicles were sold.

Remember, the purpose is to replace mainstream sales, not compete within a niche.

 

You can't look at % market share when one guy was ~100% and then others started to produce hybrids of their own. Toyota's % will decrease as other hybrids get in the market. I am guessing Toyota hybrids sales numbers will increase, and probably so for all hybrids.

 

I think that is a poor way to think of things. If toyota is the only hybrid company, hybrids will stay a very small segment of the market. Competition is healthy, and more competition is good if you want the cars to improve, prices to go down, and sales percentage to go up. If only one company is in the game, its bad news for the game. Getting hyundai and ford to up their game helps build the share. It has now gotten vw into hybrids too. The jetta looks very first generaton, but vw looks to be on track to be the next biggest car company. i would rather they focus on phevs than diesels.

So less than 2%. That is not going to save a high percentage of the worlds oil. There are a couple of markets hybrids do well in Japan and the US. In Japan the best selling car is the aqua, but Toyota didn't really green light it until they felt some competition from the lower priced insight. The insight did very poorly here, but sold well for awhile in japan. Without the competitive pressure of the sonata and fusion hybrids, I don't think toyota would have upped their game on the camry hybrid. Let's look where US growth is coming from.

December 2012 Dashboard - HybridCars.com
In 2007 toyota sold 181,000 prius liftbacks. In 2012, the first year that hybrid sales were higher than 2007, Toyota sold 147,503. They had a wagon (prius v) @40,669 and a plug in (prius phv) version @12,750 for 11% higher sales than 2007, but really that ain't much growth. Where they felt competition though the aqua/prius c which really is a different platform, and camry hybrid they had significant growth.

Well then you should welcome competition.

Yep more competition means a healthier market.