Chart Of The Day: Peak Prius?
What’s that? We still haven’t plumbed the depths of our bag-o-automotive-sales-data thoroughly enough to have published annual sales for the Toyota Prius? Well, here it is, my truth-starved friends: ten years of Prius sales, culminating in two consecutive years of falling sales. And granted, most nameplates are down over the last two years because the market has been down for a solid two years now. Also, if you think the downturn is due to gas prices, you’ve got a surprise waiting for you after the jump. So has the Prius lost its luster? Could the most culturally significant passenger car of the last ten years be running out of steam (or whatever it runs on), or is this just a natural drop in demand in line with a weak market?
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Yes, a wagon. Make it rear-wheel drive and turbo diesel and I've got the money in my pocket. Get the price down to $20k and the weight under 2200 lbs and they'll sell like snake skin earmuffs.
@srogers Except that they wouldn't. The Prius is arguably a pretty good value proposition. Yes, it is slow, but with congestion these days being fast is almost not relevent. Its quiet, refined and pretty cheap. The other big selling point is that it is quite usable with the hatchback setup. In fact, the Prius makes way more sense as family bread and butter over the Camry, and arguably looks better (with the optional 17 inch rims). Once consumers pick up on this and look beyond the simple hybrid-ness of it...then things might improve. One other thing could also lead to the decline: The materials in the new Prius are crap. As in, notably, obviously, crappy. People might actually be starting to notice things like this in Toyotas now. Disclaimer: I dislike Toyota and almost all of their products. I am not a fanboy. I cheer at their misfortune (because of they deserve it). But still, I do see the benefits of some products.