Toyota Prius: 1 Million Sales and Counting
May 15, 2008

By Michelle Krebs

The Model T of hybrids.

That's how a former Toyota executive described the Toyota Prius.

And, today, as the Prius hit a hugely significant milestone -- 1 million plus sales since going on sale in 1997 -- that title seems all the more appropriate.

Toyota said Thursday it had sold 1,028,000 Prius cars worldwide -- it is sold in 40 countries -- as of the end of April. 

Like the Model T, the Prius has become a brand on its own. Yet, Toyota is looking for even bigger things from the little car -- 1 million sales annually and the introduction of the next-generation model next year reportedly arriving in a number of variations.

Widespread Global Popularity

Of the 1 million plus Prius sold worldwide, Toyota says nearly 592,000 were sold in North America and 315,000 in Japan. In Europe, Prius just hit the 100,000-unit mark.

"There's no other vehicle - in terms of sales or image -- like the Prius," noted Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's manager for pricing and industry analysis. "It's a true MVP. There isn't anything that comes close to the Prius in terms of sales and image."

On the sales side, Toyota sold more than 20,000 Prius models in the U.S. last month - a 67-percent rise from a year ago. That's 10 percent of total Toyota sales. No incentives required - the Total Cost of Incentives (TCI), Edmunds.com's proprietary formula for calculating incentives, was among the industry's lowest at under $100 a car. That's why Toyota can afford to raise the price of the car slightly, as it did at the start of May.

And the Prius is in short supply - its lowest level in two years, Toyota officials say. Toyota's production capacity in Japan is limited and is shared with the U.S., Asia and Europe.

According to Edmunds.com, the Prius' days-to-turn - the number of days from being delivered to the dealership to an owner driving it off the lot - was also among the industry's lowest at a scant 17 days. In fact, Toyota dealers are screaming - again -- that they can't get enough Prius models to sell; their waiting lists of customers are growing long - again.*

"There's really no other car that's been out as long as Prius selling at this kind of volume with little or no incentive support,'' said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of industry analysis, adding gas prices are the main reason.

Prius as the Modern-Day Model T

So who dubbed the Prius the modern-day Model T. It was Jim Press, then president of Toyota Motor North America, in an interview with Bloomberg News in July last year -- about a month before joining newly private Chrysler "The Prius is the forerunner," he said at the time. "It's going to be like the Model T when you look back."

At that time, he predicted every vehicle eventually would be a hybrid and that hybrids would eventually dominate U.S. roads as fuel prices rose. Hybrids have a long way to go to dominate the roads, but Toyota - specifically Toyota Prius - is the dominating hybrid brand.

Ironic that Press now works at a company that has yet to sell even one hybrid. Chrysler begins selling the 2-Mode Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango hybrid sometime this year. Its hybrid technology was developed by General Motors, Chrysler/Daimler and BMW.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:00 AM under Analysis , Technology , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | Seed Newsvine

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