Toyota Considers Changing Prius Design to Make it More Appealing

No matter how much you may save on fuel and tax incentives the state or the government might provide, for a certain number of buyers, design plays a major role when deciding on a new car. Hybrids and EVs, while futuristic, are far from being called beautiful – the $100K+ Fisker Karma excluded.

Apparently, Toyota feels the same way about its line of Prius hybrids. Therefore, despite being on track to set record sales, the Japanese carmaker is mulling whether to continue with the aerodynamic, wedge-shaped styling, which truth be told, has been around for a while, for the next generation models or try something completely new.

Read more »

Consumer Reports Doesn't Recommend New Toyota Prius C Hybrid

Toyota’s least-expensive hybrid model, the $18,950 (excluding a $760 delivery and processing fee) 2013 Prius C, is the latest car to be tested by Consumer Reports magazine.

Unfortunately for Toyota, the product-testing magazine asserted that the Prius C is not good enough to be recommended.

"This subcompact hatchback, which is related to the lackluster Toyota Yaris, suffers from a stiff ride, very noisy cabin, slow acceleration, and cheap-looking interior trim," said Consumer Reports.

Read more »

Big in Japan: High Domestic Demand May Affect U.S. Supply of Toyota’s Prius C Small Hybrid

The good news for Toyota is that its recently launched Prius C hybrid is proving to be a hit. In Japan, where it went on sale last December as the Aqua, the sub-compact hybrid received 60,000 orders even before it was even launched and that number has now increased to 120,000 units.

The Prius C / Aqua is manufactured exclusively in Japan at Toyota's Iwate plant. While in 2007, the plant exported around 60 percent of its output, that number has now been halved to 30 percent.

Therefore, the bad news is that despite Toyota's boasting about the fact that it only took three days for the Prius C to sell more units than the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet combined in one month, the Japanese automaker may not be able to satisfy demand for its hybrid model in the U.S. market.

Read more »

Toyota Says it Sold More Prius C in Three Days than the Volt and Leaf Combined in a Month

According to Toyota, the newest member of its Prius family of hybrids, the Yaris-sized Prius C, is off to an extremely good start since going on sale in the States on March 12.

In its first three days on the market, the Prius C sold 1,201 units, with Toyota making it a point to note that it surpassed the combined sales of the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf for the entire month of February. In other related news, our local grocery disclosed that it sold more apples in an hour than Prius C in a day.

Read more »

New Toyota Prius C Hybrid Hatch Priced from $18,950*

Toyota has released pricing on its new Prius C, which is the third hybrid model to join the Prius range in the States after the original liftback and the new minivan.

The subcompact hatchback will arrive at Toyota dealerships in March 2012 with prices starting from $18,950, not including a $760* destination, processing and handling fee that puts the total to $19,710.

Read more »