Toyota to cut Prius prices by 50%

Quote: If you were thinking of buying a Prius - don't. Toyota's going to cut the price even more than Apple cut that on the iPhone: they're going to cut the price in half for the next generation Prius.

So says the Toyota Executive Vice President in charge of research and development, Kazuo Okamoto. He spoke to reporters at the Tokyo Motor Show. "When we went from the first-generation Prius to the second-generation, we did the same thing."

```````` If this is true, it would mean that the first generation Prius sold for $40K or more. Somehow I find that difficult to believe...

Cathy

It would also mean that the 3rd generation Prius would cost less than a Corolla. I also find that difficult to believe. Considering I'd love to have a Prius, I would *like* to believe it, but...

Cathy

This is a misquote - they are going to cut the cost of the hybrid drivetrain, not the whole car. If they actually do this, they'll have the cost of the drivetrain to only a little more than the cost of the Corolla drivetrain.

Ed

Cutting edge technology only gets better and cheaper with time, so if you can wait, wait.

We all know that, re: calculators, VCRs, microwaves, older models of digital cameras, computers & printers, etc. (Not ink cartridges, however -that's where they rake it in!) But cut the price of a relatively popular & new car from one year to the next by 50%? I don't think so. And did the 1st gen. Prius in '03 cost $40,000 - double that of the '04? Nope.

Cathy

Yep, that's a stretch, hell I'd even be tempted to buy one at $20K, maybe.

"dbu." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.dca.giganews.com:

Toyota still doesn't actually make money on the Prius when you consider development costs.

They're doing this for publicity, and for Brownie points with the Feds and the environuts.

The Prius is being subsidized by Toyota's profits on their conventional vehicles.

"C. E. White" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Yes, that's what I remember reading in the paper the other day.

$20,000?!? If they cut the current price of the 2nd generation by 50% for the 3rd gen., it'd cost only $12-13K for a mid-range model, re:options!

Cathy

I thought they were more close to $40K. They are ONLY $26K?? I should buy two...

The '04 base model sold for $20K when the 2nd generation was first sold here. They're now a couple of grand more; $25-26 for middle-of-the road options pkg., then lower & higher, but nowhere near 40K. $27 is prob. as high as they go.

I know we've discussed this before - when "moon...?" (moon-somebody?? - can't remember her name) was asking a bunch of questions about the Prius, incl. the price; you & she had both thought they were very pricey vs. pretty much in the Camry price range.

Cathy

Whoever wrote that article needs to read more carefully. Toyota is not going to cut the price of the Prius in half; they are going to cut the price of the hybrid system in half. In other words, the premium for having a hybrid system will be half of what it is now.

Either that, or they can't write/report worth sh*t. ;-)

Toyota is not

Works for me, esp. since the tax incentives are disappearing.

Cathy

This was reported elsewhere and TopSpeed looks like they lost some context. In other sources, Toyota is cutting the cost of the DRIVETRAIN in half. The Prius body, interior, brakes, etc, are just like any other car; they're not suddenly going to cut the cost of all that in half.

Even at that, it's unclear to me what they really mean. "Drivetrain" in the Prius' case could involve the transmission, ICE, electric motors, etc. Cutting the cost of the "drivetrain" in half would be amazing. But it would also mean that whatever they did to the ICE and electric motors would have a big impact for other cars and industries. I don't see where Toyota could suddenly cut the cost of an ICE in half - everybody's working on that and progress is likely to be slow. I'm guessing Toyota's cutting the cost of the PSD/transmission.

In the most limited case: some price cuts and margin improvements on the Prius. This is some bad news for Chevy's Volt program. Bob Lutz has been weasel-wording on this, lately, anyway. And it's funny that they have run TV ads featuring the non-existent Volt. It gets more difficult to see how they'll deliver anything at a reasonable price.

In the broadest case: Toyota is doing something that could dramatically increase their margins and decrease their prices on every car.

But Toyota's working on manufacturing, cost, complexity and weight issues all across the board. I read recently, can't recall where, that Toyota aims to decrease the number of moving parts in their engines by 20%. That would be another remarkable change. Their latest transmissions are much lighter and have something like 20% fewer moving parts than previous versions.

Toyota is not cutting the cost of the drivetrain in half. Toyota is cutting the price of the hybrid components in half.

I still hope, even with the cost cutting, that it can still perform as well as Al Gore 100 mph Prius.

The NHW11 2001-2003 US Prius had a MSRP of $19995. The NHW20 2004 US Prius had a MSRP of $19995. (2nd generation) The NHW20 2008 US Prius has a MSRP of $20950.