Toyota Sells 1 Millionth Prius

by Jonny Lieberman

May 15th, 2008 6:54 PM

Break out your recyclable paper party hats! Toyota's just sold it's one millionth sorta cute, kinda ugly sensible hatchback with Hybrid Synergy Drive. While the Prius is not quite the Model T (Henry Ford the Senior sold 501,462 Tin Lizzies in 1915 alone), a million vehicles sold in ten (or eleven) years is nothing to scoff at– at least these days (cough Lutz cough Ghosn). Right now, sales are jumping. In April, Priora sales rose 66.6 percent vs. last April. Year-to-date, they're up 22.6 percent. Happily (for Toyota), Priora are also selling like hot, gas/battery-powered hotcakes in Europe, where sales ascended by nearly 33 percent. Japanese Priora sales are up 24.5 percent. ToMoCo's press release calculates that the 1m hybrids silently cruising all over ~~blind pedestrians~~ the world have cut 4.5m tons of CO2 emissions compared to regular vehicles (et tu, Sequoia?). The Moving Forward folk claim that they'll be selling 1m hybrid vehicles per year. Chevy's Volt? Not so much.

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Dhanson865 on May 16, 2008

Don't drive to Vegas. I'm not going to drive to Atlanta either. My point is are you or I either one anything like the average US consumer? Is Utah a realistic average market to sample from? Is a medium size metropolitan area in Tennessee a realistic average market to sample from? Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population and pick a city at random in the 75th to 125th spot between the applachians and rocky mountains or anything in the 100th to 250th spot on the East or West Coast and find a zip code and try that search. For example #150 Cape Coral FL 33900 100 mile Autotrader Search: 2002 Blue Prius 105,740 $11500 2002 White Prius 47,162 $14995 #144 Dayton OH 45401 100 mile Autotrader Search: 2001 Light Aqua Prius 133,922 $10991 2001 Tan Prius 111,742 $10900 #128 Providence RI 02906 100 mile Autotrader search: 2001 Green Prius 99,655 $9995 2002 Light Blue Prius 116,837 $9995 2002 Dark Blue Prius 63,599 $11595 2003 Beige Prius 64,500 $14995 #200 Columbia, SC 29201 125 mile Autotrader search (did 200 mile search but I'm only copying the ones that are in the 100-125 mile range): 2004 Silver Prius 119,000 $13750 2004 Silver Prius 100,500 $14500 I'm leaving out the ones that have obvious accident damage. Many of the ones I listed are 1 owner carfax certified (not that that is a perfect guarantee). I never said the Prius is the cheapest car to own. I don't own one. What I found controversial was that you would say that someone should consider not being able to find a Prius for less than $21000 less than a hundred miles from you in Utah as part of a reasonable cost comparison for us to discuss on a web site that has users not only across the US but Internationally as well. Your exact location and ability to buy a used Prius has very little to do with the rest of us being able to do so for well under $21000. I believe I've shown that it is easy to find a used Prius under half that cost so long as you don't live in a sparsely populated area.

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Dhanson865 on May 16, 2008

Hey, make up your mind. First you compare a $21000 Prius to a $9995 Camaro. Now that you see there is an option to buy a used Prius around $8500 you want to switch to a $3500 RWD beater? Which is it are we comparing what we can do with $5000 or what we can do with $10000? If you buy a $100 econovan and drive it for a year you will beat anybodys cost per mile. That isn't the point. Pick a price level and stick with it.

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Mj0lnir on May 16, 2008
dhanson865 : May 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm If you buy a $100 econovan and drive it for a year you will beat anybodys cost per mile. That isn’t the point.That is exactly the point. My whole point is that for any price you pay for a Prius, much less the price I'd pay if I actually had to buy one here and not Atlanta, it would be cheaper for me to drive a V8. I said "It'll be cheaper to drive a 15 mpg muscle car than a Prius", so when you start searching classifieds for $8500 Prii, I get to point out that there are $3500 muscle cars available. "cheaper per mile" is my whole point. dhanson865 : May 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm Pick a price level and stick with it.No can do- if my assertion is "15 mpg V8's will be cheaper than Prius'" I don't have to artificially limit it. You found a Prius that's less expensive than a Camaro I want. Ignoring the fact that I'd have to fly cross country to buy it, that doesn't prove that "a" muscle car would be less expensive. It proves that a particular car doesn't compete. If my goal is to drive a RWD V8 and save money over a $8500 Prius, it's still entirely possible. Just not with that particular Camaro. Subjectively, I'd rather drive a $3500 Chevelle than an $8500 Prius. dhanson865 : May 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm Which is it are we comparing what we can do with $5000 or what we can do with $10000?Neither. "We" are comparing how much it'll cost you to run a Prius vs. a muscle car. How much money you have to spend on gas is a function of how much you save over the price of the Toyota. If I pay $20,000 for the Prius I can drive a pretty nice muscle car and save $10,000 for gas. If I pay $8500 for the Prius I get to drive a less nice muscle car and spend $5000 on gas. I never stated that only pristine, EFI Chevrolet's would be considered- the only criteria I posted was 15 mpg and muscle. Since the point is that for any Prius you can buy, I'll spend less money and drive a car I enjoy, the price you expect me to pay for a Prius dictates how much car I can buy and still come out ahead. If you want me to stick to a budget, tell me how much money you think it's reasonable to spend on a daily driver and give me a zip code. Assuming your total budget is around $8k to $10k, I can probably find a car I want to drive for at least $5000 less than any Prius advertised within reasonable purchasing distance. If you choose my zip code, I guarantee it.

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Martin B on May 17, 2008

What concerns me, as a Ford fan, is: why hasn't Ford come out with a Prius-killer? Ford and Toyota, both starting with a blank sheet of paper, have developed near-identical hybrid systems. So Ford owns competitive hybrid technology; it just doesn't seem to exploit it effectively. I would have expected Ford to have on the market by now something a bit smaller, a bit cheaper, a bit sportier and better-handling, a bit less economical than the Prius, but which is nevertheless seen by the public as a direct competitor to the Prius. It seems that Prius fills a previously-unsuspected and rapidly-growing market niche and has it all to itself. The D2.8 have preferred to make "hybrid versions of..." vehicles rather than dedicated niche vehicles. I think they missed a gap in the market. Fair enough, it happens. But by now they should be attacking Prius head-on. How would you describe the Prius niche? (Hey, that's a good thread for if you get the forum going). "Mid-size economy champion" "Visibly eco-friendly and not a bad mid-size vehicle" "Not a bad car with really low running costs" "Non-diesel economy champion"? It's really important to get the correct answer to this question in order to build a Prius-beater.

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