This Morning's Post

July 9, 2005

I posted here last year when I was looking for a Prius to replace my gas-guzzler due to a new job with a 100 mile plus daily commute.

At that point I booked a test drive with the local dealer, but by the time they'd managed to sort a demonstrator I'd already bought a used Golf GT TDi (v.v. happy - outstanding handling, consistent 50mpg on motorway).

This morning I had a mailshot from Toyota which began "As somone who expressed an interest in the Prius....." and goes on to ramble about the COTY 2005 award and the 8 year warranty etc. What came as a surprise was the section which reads:

"we've had to dramatically increase production to keep up with demand".

As a result of what must have been a damascene moment for Toyota's manufacturing planners I'm expecting the number on the roads to increase, and dealers to become more amenable to the idea of discounts. Any comments or thoughts about this?

One thought - if there's been so much demand that they couldn't discount, why are Toyota sending out mailers like this? Could it possibly be that someone has realised they've lost quite a few potential sales due to long waiting times? (Sure, long lead times can help maintain a price premium through perceived exclusivity, but Toyota might just be realising that they're not in that particular market space - especially not with a car like the Prius where low cost-of-ownership is a major selling point.)

Of course when the Golf comes up for replacement in two years, I'll come back and look at the Prius once again.....maybe Toyota's commercial minds will have got themselves sorted out by then.

Just my two-penn'oth.

July 9, 2005

IMPO, the car is just too expensive for what it is. I think it will have to reduce to Corolla prices before I would buy one. In fact, if they did then I would buy one tomorrow but, currently, for 21K, I can get an awful lot of car from another maker which will hold onto its value alot more.

I suspect over the next 12 months we will see considerably discounts on the Prius as, by now, they must have run out of early adopters prepared to pay the over the top price - you can tell this by how people have reported getting new Prius delivered within 2 weeks of ordering.

July 18, 2005

Toyota has increased their production 3x times from initial numbers in mid-2003, so you will see more and more of them everywhere.

As i said previously, while you might be able to see dealer discounts for models on the lot, there will be no Toyota discounts in general on this car, as it is already quite cheap for what it is.

Again, I see absolutly no connection with Corolla or why it should be corolla priced. That is simply unrealistic.

And early adopters - Prius has been on sale for 8 years now, and this model is on sale 2 years now, I doubt that people who bought few hundred of thousands of them can be called early adopters :-).

July 18, 2005

Again, I see absolutly no connection with Corolla or why it should be corolla priced. That is simply unrealistic.
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I think some people will say that a five-door diesel Corolla hatchback has excellent fuel economy, practicality and is nearly as big as a Prius for enough less money that it would take you a lot of miles to recoup the difference in fuel bills.

Personally I would rather have the Prius if I was in the market for that sort of car, but I imagine that isn't everybody's point of view.

Good news all round, though, that Toyota sees the need to make lots more of them :thumbsup: