Kia Plans Prius Rival

[FROSTYBALLS]

See. http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/kia-plans-new-toyota-prius-rival?utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=Enews%20Bulletins&utm_content=link6_3&utm_source=20141101

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Their plan is to take sales off Toyotas dedicated hybrid, the Prius eh? lol. Toyota are doing that already. Just look at the sales figures for the Prius;

Last year Toyota sold a grand total of 3,277 Prii, the lowest figure since 2005 (3,672) and against a high of 10,284 in 2010. Sales figures for the first 6 months of this year are only 1,361 which shows a continued slide. Can a car selling less than 3,000 a year still be viable? I guess it could be argued that a new model is pending, but in 2008 before the gen3 was released, sales were just shy of 9,000. Sure they have sold more Auris and Yaris hybrids but the Prius is their trophy car (love it or hate it) and still gets amazingly good real life mpg figures as regularly shown on this forum. If it fades into obscurity, so will the hybrid.

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/family/toyota_prius#!newreg

I think it is a mistake for Toyota to allow it to slowly fade into obscurity. Imagine if this new Kia became the first thought for most fuel efficient and lowest emissioned family car in production. (unlikely considering Kias reputation for poor fuel economy though - just look at customer comments on their own website).

[Chris Dance]

I heard from a Kia owner some time ago that reliability was an issue. Kia cars may have improved since that time but I still think the Prius is a very good reliable car and The Toyota dealerships although not perfect are better than others. I do not think I could be persuaded to buy a Kia.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Their plan is to take sales off Toyotas dedicated hybrid, the Prius eh? lol. Toyota are doing that already. Just look at the sales figures for the Prius;

Last year Toyota sold a grand total of 3,277 Prii, the lowest figure since 2005 (3,672) and against a high of 10,284 in 2010. Sales figures for the first 6 months of this year are only 1,361 which shows a continued slide. Can a car selling less than 3,000 a year still be viable? I guess it could be argued that a new model is pending, but in 2008 before the gen3 was released, sales were just shy of 9,000. Sure they have sold more Auris and Yaris hybrids but the Prius is their trophy car (love it or hate it) and still gets amazingly good real life mpg figures as regularly shown on this forum. If it fades into obscurity, so will the hybrid.

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/family/toyota_prius#!newreg

I think it is a mistake for Toyota to allow it to slowly fade into obscurity. Imagine if this new Kia became the first thought for most fuel efficient and lowest emissioned family car in production. (unlikely considering Kias reputation for poor fuel economy though - just look at customer comments on their own website).

How many new Yaris and Auris hybrids are being sold instead of Prius though? You've got to remember the market and what Toyota now offer as diversified.

We've just test driven a Yaris hybrid this afternoon, and the sales man said they're selling like hot cakes.

[cuius]

...and, of course...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/10/30/uk-hyundai-motor-sedan-idUKKBN0IJ04L20141030

[PeteB]

I suspect when the exemption from the London Congestion Charge ended for the Prius (except plugin), that didn't help. I know a lot of Prius were sold in London for that reason.

Given the problem with pollution and particularly diesels and NOx gasses in London, I think they were short sighted.

Encouraging more Hybrids could only help their situation. I think the pollution fines the London assembly will have to pay and the political fallout when they have to penalise diesels drivers will be more expensive than the extra revenue raised on the congestion charge.

They may yet have to bans cars from London's streets some days of the month when pollution peaks, as Paris did earlier this year (and other cities too).

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Sales of Prius in London and the SE only accounted for 30% of sales. That leaves 70% elsewhere. Appreciate that 30% in one city appears a lot but there is a bigger picture. They're popular around here, and in Leeds, York and everywhere. I fear that because marketing departments are in London they are unduly biased to the bl**dy congestion charge - though London does need emission reduction.

I have been looking at the pricing of the Prius and at £22k it seems high for what it is, and that's just the base model. The very similar and more upmarket Lexus CT200h starts at £21k. This seems strange as in the US there is a difference of about £4k/£5k (£'s not $'s) between them.

I wonder if Toyota just want to price the Prius out of the UK lineup and encourage sales of the Yaris and Auris hybrids instead. I wonder if the UK will ever see the gen4 Prius in anything other than the more expensive plug in option? Perhaps a fuel cell vehicle will be their next trophy model?

There is demand for the Prius as seen by second hand values, but projected new sales of less than 3,000 this year doesn't bode well for the future. :(

[cootuk]

When I had my service done at Bradford main dealer, the Rav4 and GT86 were the only larger cars inside the showroom. No Prius or Avensis, though they could have been outside in the rain.

Everything else inside were the smaller cars so that must be what they want to sell.

[johalareewi]

I have been looking at the pricing of the Prius and at £22k it seems high for what it is, and that's just the base model. The very similar and more upmarket Lexus CT200h starts at £21k.

Prius price doesn't compare too well against the Auris Hybrid Touring Sports either. :(

Yaris Hybrid

from £16,195

Auris Hybrid

from £20,645

Auris Hybrid Touring Sports

from £21,745

Prius

from £21,995

7 Seat Prius+

from £26,145

Prius Plug-in

from £28,395

I reckon they should price the plugin at the prius price (from £21k) then with the £5 grant, they should shift all that dead stock.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

They have their reasons but I fear Toyota is making some strange decisions of late. Rumour has it the Avensis is going too. I appreciate there are targets from the EU about fuel economy but a range of small cars and a big 4 litre £60k SUV just seems to be weird.

[FROSTYBALLS]

There have been pictures of disguised Avensis models floating about the media. Autocar reckon the existing car will be facelifted in 2015, and use the BMW diesel engines, to make it last until around 2018. Which may explain Toyota saying earlier this year that there will be no hybrid Avensis, but that wasn't to say there will be no Toyota hybrid in that market segment.