Although no other Toyota or Lexus models are affected by this latest recall action in Europe, Toyota Sai (JDM) and Lexus HS250h (USDM) are also affected.
Showing posts with label Toyota Prius YM2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toyota Prius YM2010. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2010
Toyota announces recall of 3rd-gen Prius
Although no other Toyota or Lexus models are affected by this latest recall action in Europe, Toyota Sai (JDM) and Lexus HS250h (USDM) are also affected.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Japan orders Toyota to investigate complaints about Prius' braking performance
It seems that another headache (earlier post) has just popped up for Toyota. Japan's Ministry of Transportation ordered Toyota to investigate a number of consumer complaints involving the brakes of the new Prius (トヨタプリウス). This is after the Ministry received 14 complaints since last July (in one of the 14 complaints, a Prius crashed head on into another car at an intersection).
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Honda CEO challenges R&D team to build a better hybrid than Prius
Honda Motor Co’s CEO Takanobu Ito has challenged his R&D team to produce a hybrid that exceeds the fuel-economy of the Toyota Prius. Ito said that the new hybrid won’t necessarily be a next-generation version of the Honda Insight, but may be another vehicle that will join the company’s hybrid lineup.
“We want to develop and expand our hybrids,” Ito told Automotive News during an interview at the Detroit auto show. “We made some major sacrifices to shift people and resources to do that.”
He said that Honda is currently concentrating on expanding its small-vehicle hybrid platform and said that the Japanese automaker’s large-vehicle hybrid platform is not ready.
Honda’s top management has been disappointed by the sales of the Insight since its U.S. launch last March. Even though the Insight undercuts the Toyota Prius by $2,500, it’s fuel-economy rating of 40/43 mpg (city/highway) falls short of the Prius’ 51/48 rating.
“We want to develop and expand our hybrids,” Ito told Automotive News during an interview at the Detroit auto show. “We made some major sacrifices to shift people and resources to do that.”
He said that Honda is currently concentrating on expanding its small-vehicle hybrid platform and said that the Japanese automaker’s large-vehicle hybrid platform is not ready.
Honda’s top management has been disappointed by the sales of the Insight since its U.S. launch last March. Even though the Insight undercuts the Toyota Prius by $2,500, it’s fuel-economy rating of 40/43 mpg (city/highway) falls short of the Prius’ 51/48 rating.
Source: egmCarTech
Friday, January 15, 2010
Toyota Prius G Sports concept revealed in Tokyo
The G Sports package includes all kinds of cosmetic and performance goodies, but curiously enough, none that concern the gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain...
What it does get is a full body aero kit that adds a completely new nose, a different rear bumper that houses the twin tail pipes of the sport exhaust system, rear wheel covers, side skirts, carbon fiber mirrors and a rear wing.
The LED daytime running lights and the larger alloys shod in beefier wheels complete the exterior mods.
Inside, the Prius G Sports Concept gets a pair of body-hugging Recaro seats, a leather steering wheel accented by red stitching, aluminum pedals, new dashboard trim as well as 'G-Sports' branded gear lever and start button.
The performance upgrades include a new sport suspension that lowers the hybrid car's ride height by 30mm, underbody aero parts, a sport braking system and what Google translates as "reinforced body".
Source: Carscoop
Friday, January 8, 2010
Toyota Prius becomes Japan's top seller for first time since introduction
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid became Japan’s top-selling automobile last year for the first time since its debut in 1997 as government incentives spurred demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.
Prius sales almost tripled to 208,876 in 2009 from a year earlier, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. The model outpaced Suzuki Motor Corp.’s WagonR minicar, which had been the top-selling model for five consecutive years, and Honda Motor Co.’s Fit compact.
Government stimulus introduced last year saves buyers as much as 394,500 yen ($4,229) on the cheapest Prius, priced at 2.05 million yen. The model may not retain its No. 1 spot after the support ends on Sept. 30, said Yoshiaki Kawano, an analyst at auto consulting company CSM Worldwide in Tokyo.
“The Prius was one of the models that benefited the most,” Kawano said. “Sales will certainly drop from October.”
Government aid helped Japan’s vehicle sales rise for five consecutive months through December.
“The government’s tax cuts and subsidies provided a tailwind” for Prius sales, Toyota’s Executive Vice President Yoichiro Ichimaru said in an interview on Jan. 5.
Hiroyoshi Ogawa, who runs a Yokohama computer-systems company, bought a Prius for his business in May to replace his Avensis sedan.
‘Government Aid’
“We can get government aid to buy the car and on top of that, as we drive it, our company image benefits from being seen as eco-friendly,” Ogawa, 54, said.
Toyota shares rose 2.9 percent to close at 3,960 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.1 percent.
The third-generation Prius, priced between 2.05 million yen and 3.27 million yen, is 7 percent more fuel efficient than the previous version, with a fuel economy of 38 kilometers per liter (89 miles per gallon), according to testing rules established by the Japanese government.
Rival Honda’s Insight hybrid, which was introduced in February, gets about 30 kilometers per liter. The new Prius has a fuel efficiency of 51 miles per gallon in city driving, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.
Many Japanese buyers have replaced bigger, luxury cars such as Mark X and Crown sedans for the Prius, said Hiromi Inoue, a sales manager at Tokyo Toyopet, Japan’s biggest seller of Toyota hybrids.
Hybrid ‘Pride’
“With the hybrid, they don’t have to throw away their pride even though the size is smaller,” he said.
Toyota earns about 200,000 yen in operating profit on the sale of one Prius compared with about 1 million yen on a Crown sedan and 2 million yen on a Lexus LS sedan, said Koji Endo, managing director of advanced Research Japan in Tokyo. Toyota spokesman Takanori Yokoi declined to say how much profit the Prius generates.
Toyota has probably spent more than 1 trillion yen developing the hybrid since the project began in the 1990s, said Mamoru Kato, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Nagoya, Japan. The company only began making profit on the current model, the Prius’s third generation, he said.
Operating Profit
“The increase of Prius sales at the cost of other models is negative” for the company, Endo said. “Toyota will face a decline in operating profit.”
Price competition from hybrid-making rivals has also made it more difficult for Toyota to capitalize on the model’s success.
When Toyota started taking orders for the third-generation Prius in April, President Akio Toyoda slashed the price of the entry-level Prius by 12 percent to 2.05 million yen. The cut was needed to compete with Honda’s redesigned Insight Hybrid, priced from 1.89 million yen.
Toyota aims to sell 1 million hybrids a year between 2010 and 2020 and offer hybrid versions of all its models in the decade from 2020 to 2030, according to the company.
Other carmakers including Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest carmaker, are also introducing fuel-efficient vehicles, potentially making Toyota’s Prius less appealing. Honda plans to introduce two more hybrids this year.
Japan’s auto sales excluding minicars rose 37 percent last month, the fifth straight increase after recovering from a yearlong slide in August. The nation’s 2009 auto sales dropped 9.1 percent, the sixth straight decline.
Prius sales almost tripled to 208,876 in 2009 from a year earlier, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. The model outpaced Suzuki Motor Corp.’s WagonR minicar, which had been the top-selling model for five consecutive years, and Honda Motor Co.’s Fit compact.
Government stimulus introduced last year saves buyers as much as 394,500 yen ($4,229) on the cheapest Prius, priced at 2.05 million yen. The model may not retain its No. 1 spot after the support ends on Sept. 30, said Yoshiaki Kawano, an analyst at auto consulting company CSM Worldwide in Tokyo.
“The Prius was one of the models that benefited the most,” Kawano said. “Sales will certainly drop from October.”
Government aid helped Japan’s vehicle sales rise for five consecutive months through December.
“The government’s tax cuts and subsidies provided a tailwind” for Prius sales, Toyota’s Executive Vice President Yoichiro Ichimaru said in an interview on Jan. 5.
Hiroyoshi Ogawa, who runs a Yokohama computer-systems company, bought a Prius for his business in May to replace his Avensis sedan.
‘Government Aid’
“We can get government aid to buy the car and on top of that, as we drive it, our company image benefits from being seen as eco-friendly,” Ogawa, 54, said.
Toyota shares rose 2.9 percent to close at 3,960 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.1 percent.
The third-generation Prius, priced between 2.05 million yen and 3.27 million yen, is 7 percent more fuel efficient than the previous version, with a fuel economy of 38 kilometers per liter (89 miles per gallon), according to testing rules established by the Japanese government.
Rival Honda’s Insight hybrid, which was introduced in February, gets about 30 kilometers per liter. The new Prius has a fuel efficiency of 51 miles per gallon in city driving, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.
Many Japanese buyers have replaced bigger, luxury cars such as Mark X and Crown sedans for the Prius, said Hiromi Inoue, a sales manager at Tokyo Toyopet, Japan’s biggest seller of Toyota hybrids.
Hybrid ‘Pride’
“With the hybrid, they don’t have to throw away their pride even though the size is smaller,” he said.
Toyota earns about 200,000 yen in operating profit on the sale of one Prius compared with about 1 million yen on a Crown sedan and 2 million yen on a Lexus LS sedan, said Koji Endo, managing director of advanced Research Japan in Tokyo. Toyota spokesman Takanori Yokoi declined to say how much profit the Prius generates.
Toyota has probably spent more than 1 trillion yen developing the hybrid since the project began in the 1990s, said Mamoru Kato, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Nagoya, Japan. The company only began making profit on the current model, the Prius’s third generation, he said.
Operating Profit
“The increase of Prius sales at the cost of other models is negative” for the company, Endo said. “Toyota will face a decline in operating profit.”
Price competition from hybrid-making rivals has also made it more difficult for Toyota to capitalize on the model’s success.
When Toyota started taking orders for the third-generation Prius in April, President Akio Toyoda slashed the price of the entry-level Prius by 12 percent to 2.05 million yen. The cut was needed to compete with Honda’s redesigned Insight Hybrid, priced from 1.89 million yen.
Toyota aims to sell 1 million hybrids a year between 2010 and 2020 and offer hybrid versions of all its models in the decade from 2020 to 2030, according to the company.
Other carmakers including Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest carmaker, are also introducing fuel-efficient vehicles, potentially making Toyota’s Prius less appealing. Honda plans to introduce two more hybrids this year.
Japan’s auto sales excluding minicars rose 37 percent last month, the fifth straight increase after recovering from a yearlong slide in August. The nation’s 2009 auto sales dropped 9.1 percent, the sixth straight decline.
Source: Bloomberg
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Toyota Prius tuned by Tommy Kaira
Just in time for next month's Tokyo Auto Salon 2010, Japanese tuning house Tommy Kaira has finalized its aero and performance offerings for the latest generation Toyota Prius hybrid. Back in September, the company released a set computer enhanced images, but now we've got the real deal.
Exterior appointments come in the form of new alloy wheels in sizes 16- and 18-inches, and an aggressive aero kit with parts that are available in carbon fiber, painted in the same color as the car or in a matte black finish.
The bodykit includes a front spoiler, grille trim, decorative trim for the front bumper, side skirts, roof spoiler and a rear apron with an integrated diffuser that houses four tail pipes.
Tires and alloys aside, performance mods are limited to a new brake system, a sports suspension that brings the car a few centimeters closer to the ground and a sports exhaust system.
Other available upgrades include illuminated Toyota logos, a sports steering wheel, specific floor mats, and HID and LED lights.
Exterior appointments come in the form of new alloy wheels in sizes 16- and 18-inches, and an aggressive aero kit with parts that are available in carbon fiber, painted in the same color as the car or in a matte black finish.
The bodykit includes a front spoiler, grille trim, decorative trim for the front bumper, side skirts, roof spoiler and a rear apron with an integrated diffuser that houses four tail pipes.
Tires and alloys aside, performance mods are limited to a new brake system, a sports suspension that brings the car a few centimeters closer to the ground and a sports exhaust system.
Other available upgrades include illuminated Toyota logos, a sports steering wheel, specific floor mats, and HID and LED lights.
Source: Carscoop
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Toyota Prius named Japan Car of the Year
The new Toyota Prius has clinched its first major award, voted Japan Car of the Year by a panel of distinguished motoring journalists and industry experts at the Tokyo motor show. The accolade is a formal acknowledgement of the advances Toyota has made with the third generation Prius, which delivers more power yet even better fuel efficiency and lower emissions from its full hybrid powertrain.
Prius’s advanced but eminently user-friendly technology is also winning the hearts and minds of its most important critics, drivers themselves. In Japan Prius has been the nation’s top selling new car for the past five months in a row – every month since the car first arrived in showrooms. And with more than 31,000 sales in September alone, new Prius last month accounted for almost 11 per cent of the entire new car market.
New Prius is also making a big impact with motorists here in the UK, with more than 4,000 customer orders received since its launch in August. In September its sales performance moved it up to become Toyota’s third best-seller, after Yaris and Auris.
Source: Toyota GB
Prius’s advanced but eminently user-friendly technology is also winning the hearts and minds of its most important critics, drivers themselves. In Japan Prius has been the nation’s top selling new car for the past five months in a row – every month since the car first arrived in showrooms. And with more than 31,000 sales in September alone, new Prius last month accounted for almost 11 per cent of the entire new car market.
New Prius is also making a big impact with motorists here in the UK, with more than 4,000 customer orders received since its launch in August. In September its sales performance moved it up to become Toyota’s third best-seller, after Yaris and Auris.
Source: Toyota GB
Monday, September 28, 2009
Toyota Prius tuning by Tommy Kaira and ASI
Eco-friendly cars are the talk of the town for the moment. Every manufacturer is either producing one or planning to. Toyota is an acknowledged leader in the field with its Prius hybrid as well as others. Few respected tuners have embraced the green thing so far, unless they are based in Japan where it almost seems the government has a decree forcing tuners to work on "green" cars as well.
How else do you explain the flurry of activity coming from enviro-friendly garages around the country? This Prius done by Tommi Kaira is but one of these. It features low front lips, big front air dams shaped like those of an Audi R8, thick rims, wide side skirts and a new rear bumper. The Prius logo is missing, as is the discretion normally linked to the car. Most striking though are the four tailpipes which do not in any way suggest "green". In fact they have the opposite effect on the eye.
Cars like the GT-R or the Impreza STI are well-suited for power and body upgrades. They are expected to pollute the eardrum along with the planet, and their fans love them for it. Prius and Honda Insight are quite different simply because of the statement they make.
There certainly is a future in eco-tuning (new word for you) but no one is quite sure what it looks like. That's perhaps why cars like this one could be discarded in current tuning circles. One such tuner is Ben Schaffer, owner of Bespoke Ventures. His company is a major American/international parts distributor and marketer for top Japanese tuning brands (KenStyle, Top Secret). Schaffer's view is that eco is good yes, but it has no place in the world of powerhouses like the R35 GT-R. Moderation is the key instead of jumping on the bandwagon. He reminds his fellow competitors/colleagues not to lose sight of their core business and enthusiasm which is sports cars.
Source: WorldCarFans
How else do you explain the flurry of activity coming from enviro-friendly garages around the country? This Prius done by Tommi Kaira is but one of these. It features low front lips, big front air dams shaped like those of an Audi R8, thick rims, wide side skirts and a new rear bumper. The Prius logo is missing, as is the discretion normally linked to the car. Most striking though are the four tailpipes which do not in any way suggest "green". In fact they have the opposite effect on the eye.
Cars like the GT-R or the Impreza STI are well-suited for power and body upgrades. They are expected to pollute the eardrum along with the planet, and their fans love them for it. Prius and Honda Insight are quite different simply because of the statement they make.
There certainly is a future in eco-tuning (new word for you) but no one is quite sure what it looks like. That's perhaps why cars like this one could be discarded in current tuning circles. One such tuner is Ben Schaffer, owner of Bespoke Ventures. His company is a major American/international parts distributor and marketer for top Japanese tuning brands (KenStyle, Top Secret). Schaffer's view is that eco is good yes, but it has no place in the world of powerhouses like the R35 GT-R. Moderation is the key instead of jumping on the bandwagon. He reminds his fellow competitors/colleagues not to lose sight of their core business and enthusiasm which is sports cars.
Source: WorldCarFans
Friday, August 14, 2009
Toyota adds LED Tech Pack to new Prius
“Will new Prius have LED headlights?” and “is an auto-dimming rear-view mirror available?” were two of the most frequently heard questions about new Prius’s equipment features in the lead-up to new full hybrid car’s launch. Toyota decided that “no” should not be the answer and moved quickly to tailor its new model range to meet customer demand.
The result is a new LED Tech Pack option, readied in time for Prius’s official launch date.
The new pack is available on Prius T Spirit and brings together a range of hi-tech equipment features. Foremost among these are LED headlights, which illuminate quicker, last longer and use significantly less energy than both halogen and xenon types.
LEDs are used for twin low-beam projects, with halogen bulbs for the high-beam and driving lights. Together with the LED tail and stop lights that are fitted as standard to new Prius, they can cut the vehicle’s electricity consumption by up to 30 per cent.
The headlights light up automatically with a dusk-sensing function and are fitted with integrated washers. The pack also provides and auto-dimming rear view mirror and water-repellent treatment on front side window glass.
In a further move to meet customer preference, the optional Protection Pack, comprising a boot liner and rear parking sensors, is being made available on the T3 version of Prius.
Source: Toyota GB
The result is a new LED Tech Pack option, readied in time for Prius’s official launch date.
The new pack is available on Prius T Spirit and brings together a range of hi-tech equipment features. Foremost among these are LED headlights, which illuminate quicker, last longer and use significantly less energy than both halogen and xenon types.
LEDs are used for twin low-beam projects, with halogen bulbs for the high-beam and driving lights. Together with the LED tail and stop lights that are fitted as standard to new Prius, they can cut the vehicle’s electricity consumption by up to 30 per cent.
The headlights light up automatically with a dusk-sensing function and are fitted with integrated washers. The pack also provides and auto-dimming rear view mirror and water-repellent treatment on front side window glass.
In a further move to meet customer preference, the optional Protection Pack, comprising a boot liner and rear parking sensors, is being made available on the T3 version of Prius.
Source: Toyota GB
Friday, August 7, 2009
In U.S. hybrid battle, Insight starts slowly while Prius gains steam
It's a good thing the redesigned Honda Insight is surpassing sales expectations in Japan, because its debut in the United States has been a disappointment.
Despite a major advertising campaign and the Insight's $2,000 price advantage over the redesigned Toyota Prius, U.S. consumers are not embracing Honda's new hybrid.
"Both are great cars [but] Prius is greenspeak for 'hybrid,'" said David Wilson, president of Wilson Automotive Group in Orange, Calif., which has both Honda and Toyota franchises.
Honda had hoped to sell 90,000 Insights a year in the United States, but the sour economy forced a revision at the time of the hybrid's March launch, to 60,000 units. So far Honda is off that pace, with only 7,524 sales through June. By contrast, Toyota sold 55,751 Priuses from January 1 through June.
TNS Compete, a marketing consulting firm in Boston, says it tracked 70,700 Prius shoppers in June and found that about 13,000 bought a Prius. Lincoln Merrihew, TNS' managing director, described the 18 percent conversion rate as healthy.
By contrast, TNS reported that about 40,000 Insight shoppers in June bought only 2,079 vehicles, a conversion rate of about 5 percent. Merrihew called that a typical ratio for a new-vehicle launch.
Wilson said: "Prius is also the most visually hybrid-looking of the two. If you are trying to make that environmentally conscious statement, Prius will be your first choice."
Another multiline dealer with Honda and Toyota stores said: "There is no cross-shop between Prius and Insight. Prius buyers come in on the Prius and buy a Prius. Honda buyers come in on Insight, find it a bit small and move to a Civic Hybrid. It will take time for Insight to catch up with the level of awareness and purchase intention that Prius has built up over several years."
Still, the dealer said, at least one of his Honda stores is "selling every Insight they get and needing more. I think relatively low gas prices and the low level of awareness are the biggest issues for Insight right now."
While the Insight is struggling to find its footing in the United States, its Japanese launch has gone well. The original Japanese sales target was 60,000 a year. But Koichi Kondo, an executive vice president at Honda Motor, said the Insight is on pace to reach 100,000 sales in the fiscal year that ends next March 31. Honda sold 36,457 Insights in Japan from its February 6 launch through June.
The third-generation Toyota Prius hit the Japanese market on May 18. Toyota sold 21,200 Priuses in June in Japan.
Honda Motor spokeswoman Yasuko Matsuura said the company is not deliberately holding back exports of the Japan-made Insight. She blamed disappointing U.S. demand on overall market conditions, not competition with the Prius.
Sage Marie, a spokesman for American Honda Motor, said it is too early to call the Insight a hit or a flop in the United States.
"We're still building awareness," Marie said. "We're just a few months into a launch of an all-new product. We still want to sell 90,000 Insights. Are we going to do this the first year? Probably not."
Source: Automotive News via The Car Tech blog
Despite a major advertising campaign and the Insight's $2,000 price advantage over the redesigned Toyota Prius, U.S. consumers are not embracing Honda's new hybrid.
"Both are great cars [but] Prius is greenspeak for 'hybrid,'" said David Wilson, president of Wilson Automotive Group in Orange, Calif., which has both Honda and Toyota franchises.
Honda had hoped to sell 90,000 Insights a year in the United States, but the sour economy forced a revision at the time of the hybrid's March launch, to 60,000 units. So far Honda is off that pace, with only 7,524 sales through June. By contrast, Toyota sold 55,751 Priuses from January 1 through June.
TNS Compete, a marketing consulting firm in Boston, says it tracked 70,700 Prius shoppers in June and found that about 13,000 bought a Prius. Lincoln Merrihew, TNS' managing director, described the 18 percent conversion rate as healthy.
By contrast, TNS reported that about 40,000 Insight shoppers in June bought only 2,079 vehicles, a conversion rate of about 5 percent. Merrihew called that a typical ratio for a new-vehicle launch.
Wilson said: "Prius is also the most visually hybrid-looking of the two. If you are trying to make that environmentally conscious statement, Prius will be your first choice."
Another multiline dealer with Honda and Toyota stores said: "There is no cross-shop between Prius and Insight. Prius buyers come in on the Prius and buy a Prius. Honda buyers come in on Insight, find it a bit small and move to a Civic Hybrid. It will take time for Insight to catch up with the level of awareness and purchase intention that Prius has built up over several years."
Still, the dealer said, at least one of his Honda stores is "selling every Insight they get and needing more. I think relatively low gas prices and the low level of awareness are the biggest issues for Insight right now."
While the Insight is struggling to find its footing in the United States, its Japanese launch has gone well. The original Japanese sales target was 60,000 a year. But Koichi Kondo, an executive vice president at Honda Motor, said the Insight is on pace to reach 100,000 sales in the fiscal year that ends next March 31. Honda sold 36,457 Insights in Japan from its February 6 launch through June.
The third-generation Toyota Prius hit the Japanese market on May 18. Toyota sold 21,200 Priuses in June in Japan.
Honda Motor spokeswoman Yasuko Matsuura said the company is not deliberately holding back exports of the Japan-made Insight. She blamed disappointing U.S. demand on overall market conditions, not competition with the Prius.
Sage Marie, a spokesman for American Honda Motor, said it is too early to call the Insight a hit or a flop in the United States.
"We're still building awareness," Marie said. "We're just a few months into a launch of an all-new product. We still want to sell 90,000 Insights. Are we going to do this the first year? Probably not."
Source: Automotive News via The Car Tech blog
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Toyota reports battery bottleneck is preventing desired production Prius hybrid
A battery bottleneck is hurting efforts to boost output of the Prius to meet booming demand for the hybrid, and the problem will likely persist into next year, according to a senior Toyota official.
"The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota senior managing director, said Tuesday at the company's quarterly earnings announcement.
"Unfortunately, the batteries are not catching up with demand. Production of the batteries needs to be increased in order for our production to go up."
Toyota has an annual Prius capacity of 500,000 cars. Panasonic EV Energy Co., which makes the nickel-metal hydride batteries for the gasoline-electric hybrid car, can't churn out more than that right now, Ijichi said.
The third-generation Prius hybrid is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy year for the world's biggest automaker. The car is facing months-long waiting lists at dealerships and is easily outselling Honda's rival Insight hybrid in Europe and the United States.
The success of the Prius in Japan is one reason Toyota says it will post its first domestic sales increase in five years.
"The new Prius model is selling quite well," Ijichi said.
Profitable Prius
Last summer, Toyota said it would build the Prius at its Tupelo, Mississippi, factory in late 2010, scrubbing a plan to make the next-generation Highlander crossover there. But amid record losses, Toyota put the plant's opening on indefinite hold.
Ijichi said Toyota won't invest to expand Prius production until it is assured of an adequate battery supply.
Battery production will increase - but gradually. Panasonic EV Energy plans to boost capacity in stages to about 1 million batteries by the summer of 2010, Ijichi said.
Despite cutthroat pricing to compete with the Insight, the Prius still enjoys healthy margins, Ijichi said. That's because production costs fell 30 percent from the previous generation of the hybrid.
Said Ijichi: "In terms of the Toyota lineup, I'd say it's probably in the mid-level of profit."
Source: Green Car Advisor
"The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota senior managing director, said Tuesday at the company's quarterly earnings announcement.
"Unfortunately, the batteries are not catching up with demand. Production of the batteries needs to be increased in order for our production to go up."
Toyota has an annual Prius capacity of 500,000 cars. Panasonic EV Energy Co., which makes the nickel-metal hydride batteries for the gasoline-electric hybrid car, can't churn out more than that right now, Ijichi said.
The third-generation Prius hybrid is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy year for the world's biggest automaker. The car is facing months-long waiting lists at dealerships and is easily outselling Honda's rival Insight hybrid in Europe and the United States.
The success of the Prius in Japan is one reason Toyota says it will post its first domestic sales increase in five years.
"The new Prius model is selling quite well," Ijichi said.
Profitable Prius
Last summer, Toyota said it would build the Prius at its Tupelo, Mississippi, factory in late 2010, scrubbing a plan to make the next-generation Highlander crossover there. But amid record losses, Toyota put the plant's opening on indefinite hold.
Ijichi said Toyota won't invest to expand Prius production until it is assured of an adequate battery supply.
Battery production will increase - but gradually. Panasonic EV Energy plans to boost capacity in stages to about 1 million batteries by the summer of 2010, Ijichi said.
Despite cutthroat pricing to compete with the Insight, the Prius still enjoys healthy margins, Ijichi said. That's because production costs fell 30 percent from the previous generation of the hybrid.
Said Ijichi: "In terms of the Toyota lineup, I'd say it's probably in the mid-level of profit."
Source: Green Car Advisor
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Insight sales down 25% since 2010 Prius release
It looks like the new Honda Insight is in for some hard times, sales-wise. Honda sales figures for June show that Insight sales dropped 25% from 2,780 units in May to 2,079 units in June. Over the same period the Prius' sales have risen from 10,091 units to 12,998. It's hard not to point out that the Prius' increase from May to June was greater than the number of Insights sold in June.
At this rate, it's going to be tough for Honda to reach their 90,000 sales goal by the end of the first model year.
Launched in April with great initial reviews, the Insight has been a tough sell with dealerships already offering discounts to move them off the lot. Reviewers have also come out considerably negative against the Insight including benchmark Consumer Reports who found it "the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time."
Source: PriusChat
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Recycling of new Toyota Prius (batteries included)
Long before the first new Prius reached the showroom, Toyota had plans in place to ensure that when the car reaches the end of its useful life it can be disposed of in an environmentally responsible fashion.
When its driving duties are done, more than 85 per cent of new Prius’s can be recycled and more than 95 per cent of its materials can be recovered in a process that only accounts for a tiny proportion (approximately two per cent) of its full lifecycle CO2 emissions.
Special attention has been paid to the efficient recycling of new Prius’s high voltage nickel-metalhydride battery with a new process that allows 95 per cent of the battery components to be recovered for re-use with near-zero emissions.
At the vehicle’s end-of-life, the battery is removed at an authorised Prius service centre. Toyota has appointed authorised waste management companies in each country where the car is sold, which are responsible for transporting the batteries to one of three European Final Treatment Companies (FTCs): SNAP, Accurec and Umicore.
The recovery process begins with the removal of the battery’s outer casing, which itself can be re-used in steel making processes. All the wires and electronic parts are sent to a specialist recovery company, while the power cells themselves are recycled using an induction-based vacuum thermal system.
This is an evolution of the traditional waste heat treatment process, but it consumes less energy, is almost emissions-free and is highly secure. The cells are put into a sealed container from which all air is removed, significantly reducing internal pressure. The container is then heated to 800°C. When the temperature reaches 400°C all organic materials break down into a mixture of oil and water, which is sent on to a licensed water treatment company for processing. The power cells are then exposed to hydrogen, which helps break the oxides down into metals.
What is left after the process is a highly concentrated nickel alloy which can be re-used as a raw material in the production of new batteries. All the other metallic elements recovered can be used in the manufacture of stainless or other specialist steels.
Source: Toyota GB Media Website
Monday, June 29, 2009
Toyota said to consider οffering version of Prius hybrid to GM
Toyota Motor Corp. may offer to supply a version of its Prius hybrid car to General Motors Corp. during a meeting between the companies’ chief executives, two people familiar with the plan said.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda and GM’s Fritz Henderson will meet in Michigan in August said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan isn’t public. A GM-badged car based on the Prius is among the options for new products at a jointly owned factory in California after GM said it would end assembly of the Pontiac Vibe at the plant earlier than planned.
A version of the world’s top-selling hybrid car may help bankrupt GM win U.S. customers and would give it an incentive to keep open the joint-venture factory. Toyota is also considering the plant as a Prius production site after shelving plans to make the gasoline-electric car in Mississippi, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier this month.
“Having a stronger line-up is an urgent matter for GM,” said Yoshihiro Okumura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $365 million at Tokyo-based Chiba-gin Asset Management Co. “Demand will continue to shift to small cars.”
GM currently has eight hybrid models, two of which are Saturns, a brand that GM is selling to Penske Automotive Group Inc. Of GM’s remaining six hybrids, only one, the Chevy Malibu, is a car, according to its web site.
Pat Morrissey, a spokesman for GM, declined to comment on any technology-sharing relationship with Toyota.
GM will launch the plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt next year and plans to have 14 hybrid models in 2012, the automaker said June 1 as part of its bankruptcy filing.
Nummi’s Fate
GM said earlier this month it will stop building Vibes in August at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., the only large auto-assembly plant on the U.S. west coast, ahead of the Detroit-based company’s initial plan to cut the hatchback in 2010. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, and GM, the second largest, have shared the factory, known as Nummi, since 1984.
“We have been in discussions with Toyota about potential future products. We have not figured out a product that meets the needs of Toyota or ourselves,” Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, said during a June 26 conference call. “That dialogue continues.”
Clarke told reporters on June 19 that GM is not in current talks to license Toyota’s hybrid system.
“Nothing has been decided other than halting the production of the Vibe at Nummi,” said Hideaki Homma, a Tokyo- based spokesman for the company. “A meeting of the executives is also not under consideration.”
Ford Arrangement
Ford Motor Co. licenses Toyota patents as part of its hybrid program, while GM has turned down those opportunities in the past, said Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics auto- consulting firm in Birmingham, Michigan. It might make sense if GM also shares component development for its sedans with Toyota, he said.
“Toyota is not normally in the practice of giving away the crown jewels,” Hall said.
It probably doesn’t make sense to put a hybrid vehicle in Nummi, Hall said. For GM, it would make more sense to share mid- sized pickups such as the Chevrolet Colorado with the Toyota Tacoma, which is built in Nummi now, he said.
Toyota and GM have shared the Fremont, California, plant since 1984. While GM owns half of the plant, Toyota models accounted for 76 percent of output through June 27, according to trade publication Automotive News.
The factory has capacity to make 420,000 cars and trucks a year and employs about 5,400 people, according to the plant’s Web site. In addition to Vibe, which is a version of Toyota’s Matrix hatchback, Nummi builds Corolla small cars and Tacoma pickups.
Toyota on Dec. 15 said it would halt work on the $1.3 billion Blue Springs, Mississippi, factory after plunging U.S. sales created excess capacity at its North American plants. The company early this year said it would pay the interest on bonds issued by Mississippi for plant-related infrastructure.
Source: Bloomberg
Friday, June 19, 2009
Toyota Prius (2009) hybrid CAR review
The Toyota Prius is arguably the most important car launch of the year. It was the Prius that introduced hybrid motoring to early adopters back in 1997, and now, with its third generation, Toyota is aiming to make it a more appealing mainstream proposition without diluting any of the stuff that made the car so special in the first place. So, it should be less of a compromise, while still offering the feelgood factor of cutting edge, planet-saving tech. That’s the idea, anyway.
How does the new Toyota Prius appeal to a more mainstream audience?
Toyota has tried to make the Prius more refined, more spacious, more dynamically engaging and, perhaps more importantly with all those Bluemotion and Efficient Dynamics cars snapping at its heels, more fuel efficient and less polluting too. So power and torque lifts from the second-gen’s 112bhp to 134bhp thanks to a new 1.8-litre engine (up from 1.5-litres), fuel economy increases to 72.4mpg (from 55.4mpg) and C02 falls from 120g/km to a get-into-London-for-free 89g/km compared with the model it replaces.
Dimensions remain similar, but there’s more rear legroom because of carefully sculpted seat backs, and a little more headroom because the highest point of that trademark sloping roof is now slightly further back. The boot is also a little larger thanks to a smaller, better-integrated battery under the boot floor.
First impressions?
The re-style is spot on – unmistakeably Prius to keep those loyal fans happy, but more visually exciting too with its creased shoulder line and rakish headlights. Thank Toyota’s European design studio for that.
Inside, it’s a nice place to be. The interior manages to balance the futuristic concept car feel you’d expect from a technologically advanced car with a large helping of real-world usability. The seats are comfy, the dash simple and easy to use, the colours light and airy, visibility excellent. It’s also incredibly spacious in here for both front and rear seat passengers, and a sense of relaxation pervades.
How does it feel on the road?
It’s good. With a full battery charge (if you’ve been on the open road and are just heading into town, for instance), you can press the EV button and the Prius will operate on its electric battery alone at speeds of up to 50kph (31mph) for as long as 2km. And that’s no marketing spin – we wafted silently around Stockholm and cruised through 50kph-limited built-up areas in the countryside on electric power alone.
That’s a key advantage the Prius (a series/parallel hybrid, meaning it can both combine its power sources and use them independently) holds over the less expensive Honda Insight – a parallel hybrid (i.e. battery and petrol power always operate in tandem) that can never run emissions-free unless it’s at a complete standstill.
Sure, if you spend a lot of time in town you’ll rarely have enough charge to run in EV mode alone, but we found the regular mode did a good job of shutting down the petrol engine at a standstill, under deceleration and at very low speeds.
How about out of town?
Clearly you’ll use petrol power a lot of the time, but at speeds of up to 70kph (44mph) it is possible to be regularly running on electric power. Think of a busy British A-road and it’s easy to see how often that could come into play. And when the power sources do switch, it’s actually quite hard to spot the difference between the engine turning on and off, just a very light kick from beneath you giving the game away.
What about these dynamic improvements, then?
Don’t go getting too excited about that. The Prius is best described as fine rather than fun. It’s inoffensive to drive and doesn’t feel out of its depth beyond the city limits. The CVT transmission does make that trademark thrash when you demand extra mph on a motorway slip road, but it’s more subdued than it is in the Honda Insight because of improved noise insulation and because the engine’s more capable and thus needs working less hard than it does in the 1.3-litre Insight.
Verdict
While we need to spend longer with the Prius to see if it really does drink so little fuel, it does seem that Toyota has hit the nail on the head. The Prius isn’t a compromise suitable only for early adopters, and it doesn’t just make sense in town. It’s a good all-round car that just happens to be packed with cutting-edge tech.
Source: Car magazine
How does the new Toyota Prius appeal to a more mainstream audience?
Toyota has tried to make the Prius more refined, more spacious, more dynamically engaging and, perhaps more importantly with all those Bluemotion and Efficient Dynamics cars snapping at its heels, more fuel efficient and less polluting too. So power and torque lifts from the second-gen’s 112bhp to 134bhp thanks to a new 1.8-litre engine (up from 1.5-litres), fuel economy increases to 72.4mpg (from 55.4mpg) and C02 falls from 120g/km to a get-into-London-for-free 89g/km compared with the model it replaces.
Dimensions remain similar, but there’s more rear legroom because of carefully sculpted seat backs, and a little more headroom because the highest point of that trademark sloping roof is now slightly further back. The boot is also a little larger thanks to a smaller, better-integrated battery under the boot floor.
First impressions?
The re-style is spot on – unmistakeably Prius to keep those loyal fans happy, but more visually exciting too with its creased shoulder line and rakish headlights. Thank Toyota’s European design studio for that.
Inside, it’s a nice place to be. The interior manages to balance the futuristic concept car feel you’d expect from a technologically advanced car with a large helping of real-world usability. The seats are comfy, the dash simple and easy to use, the colours light and airy, visibility excellent. It’s also incredibly spacious in here for both front and rear seat passengers, and a sense of relaxation pervades.
How does it feel on the road?
It’s good. With a full battery charge (if you’ve been on the open road and are just heading into town, for instance), you can press the EV button and the Prius will operate on its electric battery alone at speeds of up to 50kph (31mph) for as long as 2km. And that’s no marketing spin – we wafted silently around Stockholm and cruised through 50kph-limited built-up areas in the countryside on electric power alone.
That’s a key advantage the Prius (a series/parallel hybrid, meaning it can both combine its power sources and use them independently) holds over the less expensive Honda Insight – a parallel hybrid (i.e. battery and petrol power always operate in tandem) that can never run emissions-free unless it’s at a complete standstill.
Sure, if you spend a lot of time in town you’ll rarely have enough charge to run in EV mode alone, but we found the regular mode did a good job of shutting down the petrol engine at a standstill, under deceleration and at very low speeds.
How about out of town?
Clearly you’ll use petrol power a lot of the time, but at speeds of up to 70kph (44mph) it is possible to be regularly running on electric power. Think of a busy British A-road and it’s easy to see how often that could come into play. And when the power sources do switch, it’s actually quite hard to spot the difference between the engine turning on and off, just a very light kick from beneath you giving the game away.
What about these dynamic improvements, then?
Don’t go getting too excited about that. The Prius is best described as fine rather than fun. It’s inoffensive to drive and doesn’t feel out of its depth beyond the city limits. The CVT transmission does make that trademark thrash when you demand extra mph on a motorway slip road, but it’s more subdued than it is in the Honda Insight because of improved noise insulation and because the engine’s more capable and thus needs working less hard than it does in the 1.3-litre Insight.
Verdict
While we need to spend longer with the Prius to see if it really does drink so little fuel, it does seem that Toyota has hit the nail on the head. The Prius isn’t a compromise suitable only for early adopters, and it doesn’t just make sense in town. It’s a good all-round car that just happens to be packed with cutting-edge tech.
Source: Car magazine
Toyota books 180,000 Prius orders 1 month after debut (３代目プリウス 受注状況について)
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest automaker, said it booked 180,000 domestic orders for the new Prius gasoline-electric hybrid within a month of the car’s debut.
The company had set a sales target of 10,000 units a month in Japan, it said in a statement today. The tally includes 80,000 orders placed before the car went on sale on May 18.
The third-generation Prius was Japan’s bestselling car last month, surpassing Honda Motor Co.’s Insight, the first hybrid vehicle to top Japan’s monthly auto sales. Hybrid sales have surged on the introduction of new models and tax breaks.
Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota has transferred about 1,000 workers to its Tsutsumi factory in Aichi prefecture from other factories and implemented overtime shifts in April to meet demand for the Prius.
Source: Bloomberg
The company had set a sales target of 10,000 units a month in Japan, it said in a statement today. The tally includes 80,000 orders placed before the car went on sale on May 18.
The third-generation Prius was Japan’s bestselling car last month, surpassing Honda Motor Co.’s Insight, the first hybrid vehicle to top Japan’s monthly auto sales. Hybrid sales have surged on the introduction of new models and tax breaks.
Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota has transferred about 1,000 workers to its Tsutsumi factory in Aichi prefecture from other factories and implemented overtime shifts in April to meet demand for the Prius.
Source: Bloomberg
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Text in Japanese
３代目プリウスの受注台数は、５月18日の発売から約１ヶ月にあたる６月17日時点で約180,000台と、大変好調な立ち上がりとなっている。
ソース:トヨタ自動車
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Text in Japanese
３代目プリウスの受注台数は、５月18日の発売から約１ヶ月にあたる６月17日時点で約180,000台と、大変好調な立ち上がりとなっている。
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| １．受注台数 |
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| ２．主な好評点 |
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| ・ | 90％以上を新規開発したハイブリッドシステムのもたらす超低燃費とゆとりの走り | |
| ・ | 205万円からの価格と、環境対応車普及促進税制による、約16～21万円の減税 | |
| ・ | S-VSC、SRSサイド＆カーテンシールドエアバッグなど、充実した安全装備 |
ソース:トヨタ自動車
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Toyota-GM U.S. plant said to be considered for Prius
Toyota Motor Corp., after shelving plans to build Prius hatchbacks at a factory in Mississippi, is considering making the hybrid at a California plant shared with General Motors Corp., two people familiar with the plan said.
Toyota expects strong demand in the U.S., where the new model went on sale this month and is raising output in Japan. Given the time and cost to finish the half-built Mississippi facility, it may be easier to make the car at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as Nummi, said the people who asked not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
“Toyota put Mississippi in mothballs and as they look around at capacity already in place, Nummi might make sense,” said Jim Womack, chairman and founder of Lean Enterprise Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. “Nummi builds Corollas, and now that Prius comes off the same underbody pan, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to build it on the same line.”
Toyota’s outgoing President Katsuaki Watanabe called Prius a “savior” for the world’s largest automaker after it drew more than 80,000 consumer orders before going on sale, a rare bright spot as the company reels from its worst earnings slump in six decades. Prius was Japan’s top-selling model in May.
“The plan is still to build Prius in Mississippi as soon as demand and this economy turn around,” said Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota’s North American manufacturing unit. Wiseman said he’s unaware of discussion within Toyota to build Prius in California.
Toyota shares gained 0.5 percent to 3,720 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo today.
GM’s Bankruptcy
Toyota and GM have shared the Fremont, California, plant since 1984, running it as a joint-venture equally owned by the two largest carmakers. On June 1, the day GM filed for bankruptcy, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said his company had no plan yet to get vehicles from Nummi after the Pontiac Vibe goes out of production there next year.
“We’ve talked to them about what we might do and whether or not we have any interest in going forward in even being part of it,” said Henderson.
The factory’s future was called into question by GM’s bankruptcy, which includes closing 12 more plants by the end of 2011 under an accelerated plan to shutter 30 percent of its U.S. assembly sites. Along with the Vibe, derived from Toyota’s Matrix model, Nummi builds Toyota’s Tacoma pickups and Corolla small cars.
Blue Springs
While Detroit-based GM owns half of the plant, Toyota models accounted for 76 percent of output through June 13, according to trade publication Automotive News. GM is dropping Pontiac as part of its plan to shed four of eight U.S. brands.
The factory is California’s only large auto-assembly plant and the only such facility on North America’s West Coast. It has the capacity to make 420,000 cars and trucks a year and employs about 5,400 people, according to the plant’s Web site.
Toyota on Dec. 15 halted work on the $1.3 billion Blue Springs, Mississippi factory after plunging U.S. sales created excess capacity at its North American plants. The company early this year said it would pay the interest on bonds issued by Mississippi for plant-related infrastructure.
The Mississippi facility was to produce Highlander SUVs before Toyota said in July 2008 the factory would make Prius hatchbacks by 2010. In March, Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, said “it’s conceivable” that another model could be built there.
California is a costly place to make cars and auto parts, limiting Toyota’s ability to set up a North American supply base for batteries, electric motors and other components needed for gasoline-electric models, said economist Kim Hill, with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Still, Nummi is already supplied with parts shipped across the Pacific from Japan, so it wouldn’t be difficult to keep the factory stocked with the batteries, motors and other components needed for Prius, said John Shook, a University of Michigan management instructor and former Toyota engineer.
“Given how popular Prius is in California, and the push there for plug-in and electric vehicles, there’d certainly seem to be local support to build it there,” Shook said.
Source: Bloomberg
Toyota expects strong demand in the U.S., where the new model went on sale this month and is raising output in Japan. Given the time and cost to finish the half-built Mississippi facility, it may be easier to make the car at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as Nummi, said the people who asked not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
“Toyota put Mississippi in mothballs and as they look around at capacity already in place, Nummi might make sense,” said Jim Womack, chairman and founder of Lean Enterprise Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. “Nummi builds Corollas, and now that Prius comes off the same underbody pan, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to build it on the same line.”
Toyota’s outgoing President Katsuaki Watanabe called Prius a “savior” for the world’s largest automaker after it drew more than 80,000 consumer orders before going on sale, a rare bright spot as the company reels from its worst earnings slump in six decades. Prius was Japan’s top-selling model in May.
“The plan is still to build Prius in Mississippi as soon as demand and this economy turn around,” said Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota’s North American manufacturing unit. Wiseman said he’s unaware of discussion within Toyota to build Prius in California.
Toyota shares gained 0.5 percent to 3,720 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo today.
GM’s Bankruptcy
Toyota and GM have shared the Fremont, California, plant since 1984, running it as a joint-venture equally owned by the two largest carmakers. On June 1, the day GM filed for bankruptcy, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said his company had no plan yet to get vehicles from Nummi after the Pontiac Vibe goes out of production there next year.
“We’ve talked to them about what we might do and whether or not we have any interest in going forward in even being part of it,” said Henderson.
The factory’s future was called into question by GM’s bankruptcy, which includes closing 12 more plants by the end of 2011 under an accelerated plan to shutter 30 percent of its U.S. assembly sites. Along with the Vibe, derived from Toyota’s Matrix model, Nummi builds Toyota’s Tacoma pickups and Corolla small cars.
Blue Springs
While Detroit-based GM owns half of the plant, Toyota models accounted for 76 percent of output through June 13, according to trade publication Automotive News. GM is dropping Pontiac as part of its plan to shed four of eight U.S. brands.
The factory is California’s only large auto-assembly plant and the only such facility on North America’s West Coast. It has the capacity to make 420,000 cars and trucks a year and employs about 5,400 people, according to the plant’s Web site.
Toyota on Dec. 15 halted work on the $1.3 billion Blue Springs, Mississippi factory after plunging U.S. sales created excess capacity at its North American plants. The company early this year said it would pay the interest on bonds issued by Mississippi for plant-related infrastructure.
The Mississippi facility was to produce Highlander SUVs before Toyota said in July 2008 the factory would make Prius hatchbacks by 2010. In March, Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, said “it’s conceivable” that another model could be built there.
California is a costly place to make cars and auto parts, limiting Toyota’s ability to set up a North American supply base for batteries, electric motors and other components needed for gasoline-electric models, said economist Kim Hill, with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Still, Nummi is already supplied with parts shipped across the Pacific from Japan, so it wouldn’t be difficult to keep the factory stocked with the batteries, motors and other components needed for Prius, said John Shook, a University of Michigan management instructor and former Toyota engineer.
“Given how popular Prius is in California, and the push there for plug-in and electric vehicles, there’d certainly seem to be local support to build it there,” Shook said.
Source: Bloomberg
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Toyota’s new hybrid is on the road and on show in the UK
After months of anticipation, the all-new Prius arrived in the UK this week and is already on the road and on public display.
The latest generation of Toyota’s world-conquering hybrid has wasted no time in demonstrating its environmental credentials by taking part in the Revolve Eco-Rally, a showcase for low emissions and fuel-efficient cars that travelled from Brighton to London’s City Hall on Monday. Supported by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership and What Car? Magazine’s Green Awards, the event was organised by Revolve, an independent group that encourages and promotes sustainable transport.
New Prius is also taking centre stage at the Bull Ring in Birmingham as a key feature of the shopping centre’s Green Week activities. Under the banner “Energy”, Prius is on public view until this Sunday. It is joined on the Toyota stand by its iQ and Yaris stablemates, two prime examples of the low emissions/fuel efficient performance being achieved with Toyota Optimal Drive technology.
Next week Prius will move on to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, where it will be on show from 15 to 28 June. It will complete its debut tour at Bluewater, in Kent, from 29 June to 12 July.
Order books for new Prius are open now, with UK sales starting on 1 August.
Source: Newspress
The latest generation of Toyota’s world-conquering hybrid has wasted no time in demonstrating its environmental credentials by taking part in the Revolve Eco-Rally, a showcase for low emissions and fuel-efficient cars that travelled from Brighton to London’s City Hall on Monday. Supported by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership and What Car? Magazine’s Green Awards, the event was organised by Revolve, an independent group that encourages and promotes sustainable transport.
New Prius is also taking centre stage at the Bull Ring in Birmingham as a key feature of the shopping centre’s Green Week activities. Under the banner “Energy”, Prius is on public view until this Sunday. It is joined on the Toyota stand by its iQ and Yaris stablemates, two prime examples of the low emissions/fuel efficient performance being achieved with Toyota Optimal Drive technology.
Next week Prius will move on to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, where it will be on show from 15 to 28 June. It will complete its debut tour at Bluewater, in Kent, from 29 June to 12 July.
Order books for new Prius are open now, with UK sales starting on 1 August.
Source: Newspress
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Toyota’s Prius may not be the ‘Savior’ for recovery
Toyota Motor Corp.’s new Prius hybrid won more than 80,000 orders before even going on sale, prompting outgoing President Katsuaki Watanabe to call it the “savior” for Japan’s most unprofitable carmaker. Investors don’t share his faith.
“Toyota shouldn’t be happy just because Prius orders are going up,” said Yuuki Sakurai, general manager of financial and investment planning in Tokyo at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co., which manages the equivalent of $54 billion in assets. “What should worry it now is Lexus and high-end customers may shift to driving a Prius.”
Japan’s biggest automaker slashed production costs for the Prius by 30 percent in response to dwindling sales of bigger, more-lucrative models. Lexus sales in the U.S., the world’s biggest auto market, have fallen 37 percent this year through May, mirroring an overall plunge in demand caused by falling wages and rising unemployment.
Toyota earns between 100,000 yen ($1,042) to 200,000 yen in operating profit on the sale of one Prius or about 7 to 12 percent of the profit it makes on the sale of a Lexus LS sedan or Tundra pickup trucks in the U.S., according to an estimate by Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Ltd.
Even with lower Prius production costs, Toyota fell short of its goal of cutting costs of the vehicle by 50 percent, according to Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto.
‘Some Profit’
“There is some profit” from the Prius, said Akio Toyoda, who will become president later this month. “We are trying hard to cut costs and at the same time, it’s important to make the customers want to buy the car.”
In early April, when Toyota started taking orders from customers, Toyoda slashed the price of the entry-level Prius by 12 percent to 2.05 million yen to compete with Honda Motor Co.’s redesigned Insight Hybrid priced from 1.89 million yen.
As a result, Prius became the most popular vehicle in Japan in May topping the Insight, which had been the first hybrid vehicle to top Japan’s monthly regular auto sales.
Toyota has increased domestic orders for the new Prius by 75 percent since it went on sale May 18 after receiving 80,000 orders. The company introduced the latest Prius just 10 days after posting its first annual loss in 59 years. It expects the loss to widen to 550 billion yen this fiscal year, from 437 billion yen in the previous year.
The third-generation Prius, priced between 2.05 million yen and 3.27 million yen, has a fuel economy of 38 kilometers per liter, according to Toyota, compared with the Insight’s 30 kilometers per liter. Toyota has a goal of selling 1 million hybrids annually in the 2010s and offering hybrid versions of all of its vehicles in the 2020s.
Toyota gained 1 percent to 3,880 yen as of 12:50 p.m. in Tokyo. The stock has risen 34 percent so far this year.
‘Cash Cow’
Toyota’s sales of Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles in the U.S. have plunged 39 percent this year through May to 638,795 units.
“Toyota needs the cash cow models in the U.S., like the Lexus and the Tundra to do well,” said Masayuki Kubota, who oversees about $1.9 billion at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. “Toyota is probably expecting a return from the Prius for the long-term.”
For now, Toyota’s push into the U.S. market for large pickup trucks is compounding its financial problems.
The company opened a $1.3 billion plant in San Antonio in late 2006 solely to build Tundras and spent an equal or greater amount to revamp the truck and develop V8 engines to power it.
Tundra Target
In 2007, the first full year for the redesigned Tundra, Toyota fell short of its initial 200,000-unit U.S. sales goal and last year plunging demand for pickups amid record high gasoline prices led Toyota to suspend production work in San Antonio for three months.
Toyota’s U.S. rivals, which relied on selling large pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, have also suffered. Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 30 and will sell most of its business to Italy’s Fiat SpA, while General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, filed for bankruptcy protection on June 1.
Once Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the founder of Toyota, becomes president, he may further slash costs, including cutting Japan capacity and workforce by at least 10 percent, reducing 20 platforms and 70 model types by 10 percent, and consolidating the carmaker’s rural-dealer network in Japan, said Koji Endo, an analyst at Credit Suisse. This may help trim Toyota’s fixed costs of 6 trillion yen by 10 percent.
The automaker expects vehicle sales to drop 14 percent to 6.5 million units this fiscal year. That would leave Toyota with costs related to about 3 million units’ worth of unused capacity, Endo said.
“It’s good to see demand is gradually coming back with surging Prius sales, but it’s not good enough,” said Yoshihiro Okumura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $365 million at Tokyo-based Chiba-gin Asset Management Co.
Source: Bloomberg
“Toyota shouldn’t be happy just because Prius orders are going up,” said Yuuki Sakurai, general manager of financial and investment planning in Tokyo at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co., which manages the equivalent of $54 billion in assets. “What should worry it now is Lexus and high-end customers may shift to driving a Prius.”
Japan’s biggest automaker slashed production costs for the Prius by 30 percent in response to dwindling sales of bigger, more-lucrative models. Lexus sales in the U.S., the world’s biggest auto market, have fallen 37 percent this year through May, mirroring an overall plunge in demand caused by falling wages and rising unemployment.
Toyota earns between 100,000 yen ($1,042) to 200,000 yen in operating profit on the sale of one Prius or about 7 to 12 percent of the profit it makes on the sale of a Lexus LS sedan or Tundra pickup trucks in the U.S., according to an estimate by Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Ltd.
Even with lower Prius production costs, Toyota fell short of its goal of cutting costs of the vehicle by 50 percent, according to Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto.
‘Some Profit’
“There is some profit” from the Prius, said Akio Toyoda, who will become president later this month. “We are trying hard to cut costs and at the same time, it’s important to make the customers want to buy the car.”
In early April, when Toyota started taking orders from customers, Toyoda slashed the price of the entry-level Prius by 12 percent to 2.05 million yen to compete with Honda Motor Co.’s redesigned Insight Hybrid priced from 1.89 million yen.
As a result, Prius became the most popular vehicle in Japan in May topping the Insight, which had been the first hybrid vehicle to top Japan’s monthly regular auto sales.
Toyota has increased domestic orders for the new Prius by 75 percent since it went on sale May 18 after receiving 80,000 orders. The company introduced the latest Prius just 10 days after posting its first annual loss in 59 years. It expects the loss to widen to 550 billion yen this fiscal year, from 437 billion yen in the previous year.
The third-generation Prius, priced between 2.05 million yen and 3.27 million yen, has a fuel economy of 38 kilometers per liter, according to Toyota, compared with the Insight’s 30 kilometers per liter. Toyota has a goal of selling 1 million hybrids annually in the 2010s and offering hybrid versions of all of its vehicles in the 2020s.
Toyota gained 1 percent to 3,880 yen as of 12:50 p.m. in Tokyo. The stock has risen 34 percent so far this year.
‘Cash Cow’
Toyota’s sales of Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles in the U.S. have plunged 39 percent this year through May to 638,795 units.
“Toyota needs the cash cow models in the U.S., like the Lexus and the Tundra to do well,” said Masayuki Kubota, who oversees about $1.9 billion at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. “Toyota is probably expecting a return from the Prius for the long-term.”
For now, Toyota’s push into the U.S. market for large pickup trucks is compounding its financial problems.
The company opened a $1.3 billion plant in San Antonio in late 2006 solely to build Tundras and spent an equal or greater amount to revamp the truck and develop V8 engines to power it.
Tundra Target
In 2007, the first full year for the redesigned Tundra, Toyota fell short of its initial 200,000-unit U.S. sales goal and last year plunging demand for pickups amid record high gasoline prices led Toyota to suspend production work in San Antonio for three months.
Toyota’s U.S. rivals, which relied on selling large pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, have also suffered. Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 30 and will sell most of its business to Italy’s Fiat SpA, while General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, filed for bankruptcy protection on June 1.
Once Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the founder of Toyota, becomes president, he may further slash costs, including cutting Japan capacity and workforce by at least 10 percent, reducing 20 platforms and 70 model types by 10 percent, and consolidating the carmaker’s rural-dealer network in Japan, said Koji Endo, an analyst at Credit Suisse. This may help trim Toyota’s fixed costs of 6 trillion yen by 10 percent.
The automaker expects vehicle sales to drop 14 percent to 6.5 million units this fiscal year. That would leave Toyota with costs related to about 3 million units’ worth of unused capacity, Endo said.
“It’s good to see demand is gradually coming back with surging Prius sales, but it’s not good enough,” said Yoshihiro Okumura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $365 million at Tokyo-based Chiba-gin Asset Management Co.
Source: Bloomberg
Monday, June 8, 2009
New Prius: Cooled by the heat of the sun
- Optional Solar Pack provides independent cooling of cabin when the car is parked
- Ventilation operates independently from the vehicle motor, powered by solar roof panels
- Additional Remote Air Conditioning function allows air con to be started up to three minutes before car is occupied, operated by key fob control
- Available with Prius T Spirit models
Climbing into a car that’s been parked for a while on even a moderately sunny day can be an uncomfortable experience and is likely to provoke full-blast operation of the air conditioning, using up fuel and increasing emissions. Toyota has solved the problem with a new solar-powered ventilation system that keeps the interior cool, with no need for the engine to be running. And to make sure the temperature is just right before you get inside, it has produced the world’s first Remote Air Conditioning control, operated using the car’s key fob.
The two innovations form a Solar Pack that is available as an option on T Spirit versions of new Prius.
Solar panels, neatly integrated into a sliding sunroof, power the electric air circulation fan. Running independently from the engine, it can cool cabin temperature down from 80 to 45°C, so there is less need for the air conditioning to be used to achieve a comfortable level when you return to the vehicle.
The system can be activated as the driver leaves the car. One minute after the ignition is turned off, the air intake mode switches to “Outside Air Ventilation” and the blower mode switches to “Face” to ensure the most efficient performance. To avoid cabin air that has already been cooled being vented straight away, the system starts operating after 10 minutes, continuing until it is switched off, or the ignition is turned on.
Toyota’s Remote Air Conditioning is a world-first. Thanks to the power available from Prius’s large capacity hybrid battery, it can run for up to three minutes before the car is occupied (such a system could not be supported by a conventional 12V car battery). It is activated by pressing the A/C button on the key fob for one second.
New Prius is on sale from 1 August, priced from £18,370 on the road. The Solar Pack option costs £1,450, including VAT.
Source: Newspress
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