Amortize This! Toyota Increases Prius Production to 450k

by Robert Farago

Published: March 28th, 2008

amortize this toyota increases prius production to 450k

That, my aspiring plug-in friends (2010), is a Hell of a lot of Priora. Nikkei English News [via Bloomberg] reports that Toyota's ramping (amping?) up Prius production at its two Japanese factories to increase overall output by a full 60 percent. ToMoCo's aiming to shift 450k gas – electric hybrids worldwide in '09. No word if and when (not to mention why) Toyota will expand the Prius into its own sub-brand, as rumored on the internets. And the U.S. market for Priora has suddenly gone soft. Although Toyota's sold 181,221 Priora in '07, and the model's up 8.5 percent year-to-date, February sales declined by 10.9 percent. Could we about to see another price cut to move the metal? It sure worked last time.

Robert Farago

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4 of 25 comments

ZoomZoom on Mar 29, 2008
ChrisHaak : I drove one for a week, courtesy of Toyota’s press fleet. 45 mpg isn’t anything to sneeze at (the gas gauge barely moved each day in a 40 mile roundtrip commute), but the driving experience leaves much to be desired. Forget about jumping into holes in traffic, and even if you can, you’re looking at 20 mpg and not 45, with a floored accelerator pedal. The headroom in the back seat also is terrible. This is not true at all, at least not in my experience! I jump into holes in traffic all the time, and have never gotten lower than 43 MPG. I consistently get between 45 and 48 MPG, and sometimes I squeak out a 50+ average for a tank of fuel. On rare occasion, I have driven at 85 MPH on empty interstates for long distances, and never got lower than 42.5, and that was calculated mathematically (not by the computer display, which is sometimes generous by 2 MPG or so). You really have to abuse the Prius' right pedal on a regular and consistent basis to get anything below 40 MPG. THAT has never happened to me and my car in the four years and 62,000 miles I've driven it. Anybody driving like that long-term will no doubt be in constant danger of losing their license to points.

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ZoomZoom on Mar 29, 2008
Robstar : I know it will probably never happen, but I am not interested in a prius until 1) It has significantly better gas mileage than a 250-500cc motorcycle (faster, cheaper, more fuel efficient) I get better gas mileage than my buddy's Honda motorcycle. I stay warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and dry in the rain. And I can carry concrete, mulch, and/or my co-workers to lunch. or 2) Offers a stick version. As Stein says above, the Hybrid Synergy Drive doesn't even have a transmission, so it's not likely that there will be a stick version. a 250cc motorcycle that is, say, $4k new out the door and gets 60+mpg highway easy and 35-40 city (my gsx-r 600 gets mid 30’s) and is 0-60 in 6-8 seconds is a helluva lot better in all ways (except cargo capacity and safety) than a prius. My 0-60 in 10 seconds has been more than adequate for getting me in and out of trouble all by myself. And I say this after having been a Corvette owner. I would definitely consider a Lexus version of the Prius. I plan to drive my current ride for another 3 years. In that amount of time, it's very possible that the whole playing field will be changed yet again.

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Hwyhobo on Mar 30, 2008
Robstar wrote: a 250cc motorcycle that is, say, $4k new out the door and gets 60+mpg highway easy and 35-40 city (my gsx-r 600 gets mid 30’s) and is 0-60 in 6-8 seconds is a helluva lot better in all ways (except cargo capacity and safety) than a prius. * Suit and tie * Rain

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Steven Lang on Mar 30, 2008

Well my old Honda Helix scooter got better mileage than your motorcycle, and my Yamaha Riva XC125 gets anywhere from 80 to 95 mpg depending on how traffic is that day. The best I can muster on the Riva is to put a plastic container with a bungee cord and go off to the market. I can actually store a weeks worth of groceries that way and don't even need to use bags. Still it's such a nuisance to put on the protective gear and helmet, install container with two bungee cords, watch for every little possibility of being maimed during the commute, park it off to the side (usually have to put it over a curb to park one around here), put a lock on it, undo the bungee cords, take out the container, put container in the cart go shopping with a big helmet and in my cart, and then repeat most of the entire process... twice... that I haven't done this in nearly 2 years. However if gas goes to $8 a gallon I'll probably have to make due. For now I also have a 98' Jetta that can be used for the same purpose.

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