All about the Fourth Generation Prius

[mikeavelli]

Once you get out of the D.C. suburbs, 87 octane is below $2.00 in most of Virginia. The only reason it's not at that level in this area is the higher costs of doing business here, particularly in proper/buisness taxes.

Also, was that $1.99 gas you saw a major name-brand, or the cut-rate stuff from Smiling Sam's station down the street?



Almost all Priuses, for four generations, ever since the first American-market version debuted in 2000, have been unconventional inside and out with their styling and dash/console layouts. I hope you're right, but, based on history, I don't see where another facelift, emergency or not, is going appreciably change that.

The last version of the small, entry-level Prius C did have a somewhat more conventional gauge-cluster than other Prius models, but the latest version seems to have gone more Star-Wars.

Mike, I was shocked it was at a WaWa...didn't realize we had those in Florida....

 

[IS-SV]

I think a complete reskin sooner than originally planned would help a lot.

 

[mmcartalk]

Mike, I was shocked it was at a WaWa...didn't realize we had those in Florida....

Yeah...discount chains and groceries seem to be getting into the gas business more and more these days. B.J.'s Club and Safeway both sell it in this area now.

Coming home from my friend's Thanksgiving Dinner last night, I saw Shell 87 for $1.96 last night across the river in the MD suburbs. Lowest I've ever seen in notoriously expensive Montgomery County.


Back to the Prius...it's surprisingly popular here in this area, considering the many extremely high incomes here and the amount of disposable income spent on new vehicles. But then again, virtually everything sells here.

 

[mmcartalk]

I think a complete reskin sooner than originally planned would help a lot.

If enough people complain (we'll see with this new Prius), automakers sometimes DO rush through revisions and re-stylings faster than panned. A good example, recently, was the 2012 Honda Civic. Although the car was well-assembled as with all Hondas, so many reviewers (not to mention actual customers) panned its El-Cheapo, all-plastic, cost-cutting interior and mediocre chassis that an emergency re-skinning was rushed through for the very next model year...2013.

 

[Tragic Bronson]

If enough people complain (we'll see with this new Prius), automakers sometimes DO rush through revisions and re-stylings faster than panned. A good example, recently, was the 2012 Honda Civic. Although the car was well-assembled as with all Hondas, so many reviewers (not to mention actual customers) panned its El-Cheapo, all-plastic, cost-cutting interior and mediocre chassis that an emergency re-skinning was rushed through for the very next model year...2013.

So far sales are soft for Toyota standards, so perhaps Toyota will do something. However, the Prime is coming soon, and I think there will be more interest in that (and it is less hideous looking obviously).

 

[Tragic Bronson]

http://wardsauto.com/industry/toyota-down-sales-prius-upside-rav4-hybrid

Toyota: Down Sales for Prius, Upside for RAV4 Hybrid

DETROIT – Toyota is calling for 75,000 sales of its Prius liftback variant in 2017, 23,866 fewer than it sold in 2016.

The reason? Weak market demand for hybrid cars.

“We’re going to follow the market, but we think we have the supply-and-demand (equation) pretty much dialed in,” Bob Carter, senior vice president-automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. tells WardsAuto in an interview here.

Toyota once projected it could sell 400,000 Priuses of various body styles and powertrains in a calendar year, but that was before the CUV craze took hold.

“What we’re seeing is the movement from a 3-box sedan to 2-box utility (vehicle) is also happening in the hybrid market,” Carter says.

Toyota sold 98,866 Prius liftbacks last year in the U.S., down 12.9%. The 5-year-old Prius V wagon and Prius C compact hatchback fell 47.4% and 46.7%, respectively, to 14,840 and 20,452, while sales of the Prius plug-in hybrid were down 40.8% to 2,474.

The No.1 Japanese automaker launched a new generation of the Prius liftback early last year, but unlike previous generations of redesigned liftbacks, this one didn’t spike sales.

While a source told WardsAuto last year Toyota was flummoxed by the car’s falloff, and Carter says he wasn’t surprised, given low gasoline prices across the U.S. and the growing consumer preference for utility vehicles, Toyota did call for a 30% increase in Prius liftback sales heading into 2016.

The RAV4 Hybrid CUV, Toyota’s second-best-selling hybrid model last year with 45,097 sales, wasn’t to blame for Prius’ decline, Carter says, deeming it “complementary.”

However, he believes having the RAV4 Hybrid in the lineup helped retain Toyota customers.

“I was glad to have that vehicle, because people were coming out of (the) Prius, preferred a utility body, and here’s a vehicle that provides almost the same benefits, but with a utility body. The timing was almost impeccable for it.”

Toyota could have sold more than the 45,097 RAV4 Hybrids delivered last year, he says.

And with the automaker now in a better supply situation, it expects to top 2016’s tally this year.

“We got to a good stocking level very late in the year, but most of the year that (model) was supply-restricted. It came in at about 13% of the mix, and it should be a little higher than that,” Carter says of the proportion of RAV4 Hybrid sales to total sales of the RAV4.

Toyota sold 352,139 RAV4s in the U.S. last year, up 11.6% from 2015 and the highest annual volume yet for the compact CUV.

The automaker is targeting 400,000 RAV4 sales in the U.S. this year and hoping at least 15% of that, or 60,000 units, will be RAV4 hybrids.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if it was 16%, 17%,” he says.

Supplies of all RAV4 variants were restricted in 2016, but the situation has been remedied with raised production levels, Carter says.

WardsAuto inventory data shows a 38-day supply of North American-built RAV4s, including the hybrid, and a 50-day supply of imported RAV4s, in late December.

While that’s pretty lean, considering the industry-average days’ supply for light trucks last month was 58, he says the CUV’s inventory is “in good shape. I talk to the dealers and they say, ‘I could use a little bit more, but I’m OK, I’m not missing any business.’”

Toyota is forecasting a flat 2017. Its U.S. sales last year fell 2.0% to 2.4 million, as it couldn't keep up with light-truck demand and car sales declined.

“Overall you’ll see our volumes come in similar this year to last year, but the mix will continue to evolve (toward light trucks vs. cars),” Carter says. “I don’t think the movement to light trucks and CUVs is over, but the rate of growth will slow.”

 

[mikeavelli]

The Rav-4 is one of the best all around vehicles on the market. Making it a hybrid just made it even better.

And I'll say it over and over the Prius styling is a huge giant miss.

 

[mmcartalk]

The Rav-4 is one of the best all around vehicles on the market. Making it a hybrid just made it even better.

Good solid mechanicals and general reliability, but I find the styling wonky and some of the interior materials on the cheap side (the tank-solid rear-seat folding hardware is an exception). Agreed that the hybrid option certainly doesn't hurt.

And I'll say it over and over the Prius styling is a huge giant miss.

Without saying it over and over, I think most of us here on the forum agree with you.