Toyota predicts Prius to top Camry sales by 2020
To be Toyota's second best selling car by 2020.
When will the Prius assault begin?
Today Toyota’s biggest strength is its green image. Thus, to counter the damage caused by the recent recalls I suggested in Recalls? How the Prius can turn Toyota around that Toyota focus on making the Prius family its top selling brand as soon as possible.
Well, that’s exactly what Toyota has planned, but will they be as aggressive as I suggested?
For a while now we’ve known that Toyota has big plans for the Prius family but Toyota is now predicting that the Prius family will outsell the Camry, Toyota’s top selling vehicle, by the end of the decade according to Bloomberg. And I think the sooner this happens the better. Thus, I’ve called for lower Prius prices as an immediate way to counter declining Corolla and Camry sales caused by the recent recalls.
Obviously, Toyota has more aggressive pricing plans in mind if they want the Prius to outsell the Camry. Through November the Camry has outsold the Prius 296,581 to 125,289. But when will this pricing assault pick up pace? That remains to be seen.
Anyway, the Prius V, a larger Prius with extra seating, will debut at the Detroit Auto Show and a plug-in Prius will hit dealerships by 2012. Additionally, there will probably be a smaller Yaris-based Prius. Finally, Toyota will debut a new Prius concept in Detroit as well, and while most are betting on a small sporty hybrid, a pure battery electric Prius wouldn’t surprise me either – such a Prius seems inevitable.
For now, however, I’d continue to suggest cheaper Prius prices. The more Prius hybrids Toyota sells the better, even if it means less Camry sales sooner than Toyota would prefer. Unfortunately, I doubt Toyota will concur.
I think it depends on the fleet though, doesn’t it KP? A number of fleets know the exact ranges of every vehicle in their fleet. Thus, they can forecast out costs long term
In the past I’ve had conversations with one of the major refuse truck companies and they are very close to going all hybrid, for instance. Long term they can see the savings. it’s just that initial investment up front. Likewise, here in LA most city fleets are hybrid cars, particularly the Prius. A lot of that has to do with the green angle here in SoCa.
I think it is true that Toyota prius will take over camry because of its green image. People are getting conscious about environment. Till today Prius is the most successful hybrid car. So sales can go up for Prius.
I don’t know.
I have seen many many Toyota Prius’s being used as company fleet vehicles, taxi’s etc.
Fuel cost savings over 100,000 miles significantly outweighs the battery replacement costs.
True, In the rental situation, fuel savings is not a factor. But in company fleet vehicles and taxi’s, fuel cost savings is a very big factor and will outweigh the Camry’s styling.
The volume of vehicles in fleets (rental cars and company sales vehicles) lean towards the traditional ICE sedan. Until everyday people are comfortable with the Prius styling and fleet managers not afraid of battery replacement cost over time, Camry’s will dominate. Not to mention, in a rental situation, fuel is the expense of the renter and everything else, the rental company, so the rental company will continue to stock ICE Camry’s.