New Toyota hybrid cheaper than Honda Insight
Toyota's ultra cheap hybrid?For quite a while I've been calling out Toyota to come up with a small, cheap city Prius. A compact hybrid used mostly for city commuting when extra seating is rarely needed.
Well, Toyota might not have listened to me, but the buzz around the cost of the Honda Insight has gotten to the hybrid car king. According to reports, Toyota plans to sell a compact hybrid by 2011 - at least in Japan - that will offer a smaller engine than the Prius and a smaller price tag.
Finally, competition in the hybrid cars segment isn't just heating up, it's brewing new ideas and innovations.
Labels: honda insight hybrid, Hybrid Vehicles, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
12:23 PM
5 Comments:
this wont hit the market till 2011 at the earliest! So honda for the next 2years will be a problem for toyota cause of the insight's price 19,800. Honda will forsure sell like hotcakes.
It is not because the Insight starts at $20,470 (with destination charge). The issue is that Toyota currently does not have a compact hybrid to compete with the compact Insight. Prius is a mid-size hybrid.
Mid-size cars normally cost $4k to $5k over the compact cars. See the Camry price over the Civic.
I completely agree with you Dennis, but the lower price tag will appeal to lots of consumers.
I think there is a clear market for both compact and midsize hybrids, and I think both the Prius and the Insight will sell very well.
Still, I'm very glad to see Toyota enter the compact hybrid market.
US automakers better be paying attention because i'll bet this segment explodes in the near term - in terms of sales.
Indigo Incarnates
I like the fact that even the EX Insight is only $21k, and that has all the bells and whistles. That's more appealing than a Prius with nothing.
This won't be a watered down Prius, it's a new compact hybrid. For a while Toyota has contemplated converting the Auris into a hybrid.
Nonetheless, this is a vehicle that I'm sure will compete with the Insight, in terms of bells and whistles.
In the short term, however, Toyota will strip down some 2nd gen Prii to compete with the Insight. It'll be interesting to see how the bells and whistles match up.
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