Thoughts on $32K base price?

Given the announced updates on the 2012 Prius HEV the 2012 Plug-in standard is a 2012 Prius 3 Plug-in with heated seats and remote A/C.

Entune isn't a luxury feature. Entune is a smartphone in a car. Given the economy of scale, it's not going to be very expensive.

It's funny you say the 2 is stripped, because I'd say it's not. It has everything I need from a car with 1-door SKS the addition. Personally I'd forgo SKS to save money. I bought the Prius for efficiency and my enjoyment comes from gliding or being stopped with the car quiet and vibration free.

I would be willing to pay more for a PEV. (The Prius range is too low for me, but let's ignore that) At least part of the up-front cost pays back, it make more of your time in enjoyable EV mode and there's less tailpipe pollution and less petroleum used. I think heated seats are essential in an EV and valuable in an HEV so I don't begrudge that extra cost. Remote A/C also has value to pre-cool on the plug but I'd be willing to forgo that.

But the PEV doesn't need 3 SKS and doesn't need Entune other than access to remote control charging. 3 SKS and full Entune can go.

So, there isn't too much to remove, but I hope that as production expands they'll offer a base model for people who just want EV.

You're forgetting something: the Prius itself isn't justified for most people. Many people buy it because it's the best way to lower gasoline consumption.

Likewise a PEV is another way to lower gasoline consumption. As long as the buyer isn't thinking they'll get all their money back it could still have value. That's why the price has disappointing so many: it's just a bit more than they can afford. As Doug(?) has said, $26k is the sweet spot and it's well beyond that.

The Prius price went down. With inflation in commodity prices and 10 years of inflation in other costs, the same price means it's cheaper.

For the G4 I expect 20 miles at best. Hopefully there's some good density increases coming, but it'll take more than a few years to get it fully tested and ready for a production car.

 

i will pay the 3-3500. just for the pure pleasure of electric driving. the same as someone will pay 30K for more features or a car with better ride, handling, comfort, etc. if i have to move up to a 3 or 4 to get it, i will probably do it. i paid 26K for my 04, and 21K for my 01. i guess the pendulum is swinging back...

 

why would you think they might not realize it?

 

I'm not really sure why you are so hung up on the entire trip being in "EV", if you want that, your looking at the wrong vehicle, you should be looking at the Leaf.

The PiP is designed to LOWER your gas consumption, not elliminate it.

If you go from filling up weekly, to filling up every 4-6 weeks, thats an improvement, and lowered your consumption. Thats the goal, not ellimination of all use of gasoline, thats the realm of a full EV.

and Toyota is not going to make a PiP with lower trim levels, frankly they can sell all they can make for several years, so why should they? When the cost of the Lithium packs comes down, they will probably look at that as a possibility, but that won't be for several years.

 

Do you have a definitive link to the $1500 CA tax rebate on the PHV Prius?

Even Toyota admits at 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid that for the Federal portion:

 

Running the numbers for the base PiP versus a Prius III w/ Nav on my typical driving cycles, I'm looking at a 10 year payback after the federal tax credit. The price delta is $2500, which really isn't bad considering I spent $1400 on the factory aero kit for my GTI.

I haven't run the numbers, but my impression is that the high option PiP will be a harder sell. You're looking at $37,500 after the tax incentive. That is a lot of money.

 

I do. The comparison doesn't make sense. It would have been nice if Toyota made it available in a lower trim model but they didn't. People are wrong when they say the re is an $8,000 Premium for the PHV. Like you said, it is like comparing any Prius model to a Corolla or Fiesta.

 

I just did some simple calculations for gas savings, because once you hit the 50mpg mark, the dollar savings are harder to come by. Assume 20k miles a year, $4 a gallon gas. Regular Prius gets 50 mpg. So it burns 400 gallons a year. Cost =$1600. PHV Prius gets 100mpg. So it burns 200 gallons a year. Cost=$800. So you save $800 a year. If the premium for a PHV is $4000, the payback is 5 years.
Seems to me going from a regular car at 20mpg to a regular Prius is a much bigger savings in dollars alone. It's good to improve fuel economy, but at some point the cost comes close to outweighing the benefits.
End result, I'll stick with my regular Prius.:usa2:

 

I can't agree with you there.

Unwanted features are just that but it is a personnel choice.

 

I've been reading so much lately about different trims and models lately that my brain is mush, but besides the 17" wheels, what are the main differences between the Prius 5 and the PiP Advanced? Assuming there was the $2500 fed tax incentive, and I was a Cali resident and it qualified for the $1500 rebate, would this bring it to almost the same price (assuming prices for the 2012 models are similar to the 2011 models)?

 

Unless you attach some value to driving without gas - plugins don't sense.

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-phv-plug-in/98054-what-does-7k-really-get-you.html might help. You've probably already seen the PDF at http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-phv-plug-in/97992-2012-prius-plug-in-product-info-pdf.html.

Toyota Vehicles : Toyota Announces Prices for 2010 Prius / Toyota should help too. Ignore the very old lower prices and they've now gone to spelling out the words instead of the Roman numerals.

 

From the people who administer the program:

ARB Approves FY 2011-2012 Funding for CVRP

Cliff notes:

"CHANGES TO CVRP FOR 2011-2012"
Type II, III, IV, or V (range = or >100 miles) e.g. Nissan LEAF: $2500
Type I.5 (range = or >75, <100 miles) e.g. Smart ED: $2000
Type I (range = or >50, <75 miles) e.g. N/A: $1500
Light-Duty Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle e.g. Plug-in Prius: $1500
Neighborhood Electric Vehicle e.g. eMEGA: $900
Zero-Emission Motorcycles e.g. Zero: $900

BTW - you better get in line quickly: There's about $10M allocated for 2011-2012, of which $3.7M has already been spoken for since the wait list started in June. I would expect to see funding run out around the end of the year.

 

how exactly does one "get in line"? last time I checked the site just said that there's $0 remaining.

 

You buy or lease a qualified vehicle as soon as possible, reserve your rebate online as soon as you've taken delivery if said vehicle and then submit your supporting paperwork within 10 days or something....

 

But you said something about a wait list? Or is that people who already bought cars and were waiting for funding to get allocated?