Filed under: Car Buying, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Toyota
Toyota puts first incentives on the Prius
Though not many noticed, Toyota employed the use of incentives to increase sales of its Prius hybrid for the first time ever in January. The incentives varied around the country and included low lease payments, cheap financing and cash back to dealers for each unit sold. Automotive News reports that in New York state, customers could order up a Prius lease for just $249 per month. In Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, shoppers could finance the little guy for 3.9% for 36 months.
Toyota's goal is to reach 150,000 Prius sales in 2007, which is a large jump by any measure considering that only 106,971 units were sold in 2006, down from 107,897 in 2005. We remember a time when the line for a Prius was out the door and interested parties waited months for delivery of one of those shiny, new Priuses. It's interesting that in just the first month of 2007, Toyota has already resorted to incentives to ensure that its goal of 150,000 sold remains in sight. For its effort, the company was rewarded with the best January for Prius sales yet. Sales were up 8.4% with 8,299 units sold. There's still a long way to go, however, to hit 150,000.
If you were hoping to get a sweet deal on a Prius after reading this – sorry, the incentives reportedly ended on January 31st.
Thanks Aaron for the tip!
[Source: Automotive News – sub. req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Howard Kerr 3:26PM (2/05/2007)
I was wondering if this was a local/regional thing or if it was nationwide, and now I know. Here in Memphis, we have had the lease deal advertized since the middle of January, that is described as being offered in New York state. I can't imagine it will make much difference though, as most drivers here are buying SUVs. The big sellers for Toyota in this area are the Camry and Avalon...the "new" Buick LeSabre. After that, it's a mixed bag, as the trucks (pre-new Tundra) and SUVs seem to hold their own but aren't outselling their competition.
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Tiny Malone 1:27PM (3/04/2008)
And here it is a few months later and the Prius is in short supply again. Lets face it, Toyota just kills the competition. No way around it. If you look at what GM, Ford and Chrysler have on had in terms of cash (R&D), they are getting close to end game...especially if we go into a prolonged recession or depression.
So yes, the Prius is very strong in the market. NOW WHAT?
KingPsyz 3:36PM (2/05/2007)
Au Contraire Mon Fraire(More than likely SIC)
At least here in the Denver region we have extended the incentive on the Prius through Feb.
0.0% for 24mos
2.9% for 36mos
3.9% for 48mos
4.9% for 60mos
Lease the standard model (not Touring) starting at $249.00/mo with $2,999.00 down for 36 mos @ 12k miles/year.
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Howard Kerr 3:38PM (2/05/2007)
BTW, my brother-in-law, who lives in up-state N.Y. took deliver of a new Prius in August or September. I hope he got hosed on the price and the tax credits as he has more money than brains.
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david 3:55PM (2/05/2007)
toyota with incentives? gee i thought that is what got gm, ford, and dc in so much trouble. wait six months from now and see how huge the incentives are on the tundra. (maybe consumers are finally coming to grips that toyota ain't what they used to be)
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Big jim 3:56PM (2/05/2007)
Finally the Pruis is selling so slow, Toyota has to put incentive to intice buyers. Ear to Ear Smile
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Lithous 3:58PM (2/05/2007)
It is good to see Toyota making their numbers without incentives (from Toyota or the U.S. gov't) and no fleet vehicles what-so-ever (you'll see nothing returned from this search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=prius+taxi). So refreshing. Thank you Asian company for saving us (yes Paul, I see the light, they never do anything like the domestics). They don't incentivize cars and they never kill a model name like the domestics, they always just refine never cancel (yes Paul wherever you are, I'm going to go buy myself a shiny new Tercel or a Supra or a Celica or a Previa or a Corona or a ... to celebrate: "Oh what a feeling").
"BTW, my brother-in-law, who lives in up-state N.Y. took deliver of a new Prius in August or September. I hope he got hosed on the price and the tax credits as he has more money than brains."
All he has to do is call Watanabe (or Press, their home phone numbers are in every Toyota User Manual) and tell them he is an American and demands money back like (like Costco and their price match policy) and it will be transfered that day, any difference of potential money loss. It is that easy when we are talking about a company like Toyota just does everything out of the goodness of their heart for all Americans.
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Bob Not 4:06PM (2/05/2007)
Well a lot of buyers are awaiting the mythical update with the 80+ MPG specs.
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Scott Eaton 4:08PM (2/05/2007)
/ test msg / ignore (it's putting the wrong name in my messages)
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Michael Karesh 4:20PM (2/05/2007)
As incentives go, this one's about as mild as they come, just a medium interest loan.
Toyota has long had rebates on many models, especially the SUVs and pickups. But most are much smaller than Detroit's.
My site's page for the Prius:
http://www.truedelta.com/models/Prius.php
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rrr 4:20PM (2/05/2007)
All of you Toyota haters, Ford offers 0% on Fusion...but here's the difference,
#1Prius is 4 years old
#2 Bush administration removed some incentives from Hybrids, only first 60,000 get the full tax credit (i wonder who was behind that)
#3 New Prius is coming out in 2008.
And Fusion? Well Fusion has been out for what, about a year? And it already has incentives. That really tells you what Ford buyers think of that car.
So #5, you may have a big smile on you azz (face) right now, but i wonder if you will be smiling that hard when Detroit will report its market share a year after they will reduce sales to fleets.
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why not the LS2LS7? 4:38PM (2/05/2007)
They've been running preferential leases and advertising them in California for a while now. If you have to incentivize a Prius in Northern California, you're obviously having a little trouble moving them.
A year ago you gas was $3 and rising and if you bought a Prius you could drive it in the carpool lane during rush hour.
Both of those are over now. It's gonna be slow sales until Toyota finds a new hook for the Prius (new shapes? better MPG? plug-in?).
It's just kinda funny to see the back and forth on here. Both those who said domestics were giong to be out of business soon for not having hybrids, and now those who defend Toyota, trying to apologize for the slow sales, implying that this is just a temporary lull.
It's too early to say the entire market will go hybrid. I couldn't even convince my father they run on gas (he thought they plug in to the wall to "gas up").
I'm glad Toyota is blazing this trail. I want to see where it leads.
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PJ 4:44PM (2/05/2007)
Reality check time.
#1 - The consumer incentive being offered here is a mild break on financing, not a multi-thousand dollar rebate off MSRP.
#2 - These incentives are to help the Prius make a JUMP in sales from ~100,000/year to 150,000/year, NOT to address plummetting sales or a lack of consumer interest.
#3 - This is a car that has remained essentially unchanged since its 2004 debut. Toyota thinks they can increase sales by *33%* on a model they've hardly touched for three years, and there's a good chance that they're right.
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rrr 4:44PM (2/05/2007)
I got it. What Toyota needs to do is to become like GM. Instead of making good cars what they have to do is start talking about a car....say 3-4 years before it come out.
Like Camaro, ...everyone saw pictures of that car in early 2006...the car itself will go on sale in 2009. Compare that to Honda Accord which will comeout in 2008 and todate almost no one knows that it will look like, or compare that to Corolla that will comeout it Spring of 2008.
Or maybe Toyota should just promise a hybrid car and never deliver it, like GM? Nahhhhhh, what Toyota needs to do it make cars like Impala....a car that drives every Hertz manager WILD.
Yeahhhhhh, Bold Moves, Keep America Rolling, This is our country
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Lithous 5:00PM (2/05/2007)
I agree about the national incentive being mild but it is funny that the import fanboys just think that Toyota never does anything near what the domestics (have to) do.
I guess just Florida dealers have a "Buy a Prius at Invoice" statement at the bottom of their ebay auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320078902784
"So #5, you may have a big smile on you azz (face) right now, but i wonder if you will be smiling that hard when Detroit will report its market share a year after they will reduce sales to fleets."
I know I wasn't #5 but as a domestic fan I could care less what the numbers are as long as I still have an American assembled choice from an American company. All it is going to do is put Toyota a little bit higher on the radar when they become #1. Though, Toyota has nothing of the history of having books like "Unsafe at Any Speed" or having business classes study a book written about them (in the negative sense) like GM does with DeLorean's book so it will take a little while before people see what America's sweetheart is all about. Maybe Jesse Jackson will be back on them for being unfair to certain races again or something but that will take time once the Toyota #1 honeymoon is over. Actually, it will take a little longer for Toyota to get real high on the radar because GM will still be the *big* bad guy in the U.S. for longer than this year when world sales are predicted to make them #2.
As far as the Fusion goes compared to Prius, it probably has been the same amount of time or less that the Prius had cutoff gov't incentives to when sales went down. Wasn't it last year that the incentives weren't for everyone for a full year? Or has it been 2 years now?
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Lithous 5:16PM (2/05/2007)
"1 - The consumer incentive being offered here is a mild break on financing, not a multi-thousand dollar rebate off MSRP."
See ebay link above and scroll down near bottom.
"2 - These incentives are to help the Prius make a JUMP in sales from ~100,000/year to 150,000/year, NOT to address plummetting sales or a lack of consumer interest."
Making a goal is a valid *reason* to boost sales and offer incentives? Doesn't GM and Ford get reamed for stuff like this?
"#3 - This is a car that has remained essentially unchanged since its 2004 debut. Toyota thinks they can increase sales by *33%* on a model they've hardly touched for three years, and there's a good chance that they're right."
But this is the mighty prius. A hybrid that can do what a midsize SUV does according to some.
"I got it. What Toyota needs to do is to become like GM. Instead of making good cars what they have to do is start talking about a car....say 3-4 years before it come out."
No, you don't got it. The point is that, if it wasn't for the really good times right now that Toyota and probably Honda (they have their year end clearance as well) would be doing everything the same as the American car companies. Toyota isn't cutting Prius production the year after a sales decline, no, they are shooting for higher sales. And it isn't because of a major make over that they see this boost of sales being justified. What don't you get about that?
"Like Camaro, ...everyone saw pictures of that car in early 2006...the car itself will go on sale in 2009. Compare that to Honda Accord which will comeout in 2008 and todate almost no one knows that it will look like, or compare that to Corolla that will comeout it Spring of 2008."
I really don't think GM was seriously going to bring back the Camaro and they were gauging things. There was a lot of people saying build it and so they decided they would. The Corolsa is not a great example as it was delayed in coming out, wasn't it? As much as it is late but here so will GM's hybrids except in some of the markets they plan to release their hybrids in there is no late.
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RamSport47 5:25PM (2/05/2007)
"and no fleet vehicles what-so-ever"
Who do you think is making up the difference from GM and Ford cutting back? Do you think the mighty japs will let those sales go to someone else?
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david 5:31PM (2/05/2007)
lithious, stop drinking. last paragraph unreadable.
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Tool 5:37PM (2/05/2007)
I was a little surprised, too, to see that TMS was subventing the Prius.
If you consider that the Prius is a vehicle in its 4th year (of the 2nd gen), then a mild incentive makes sense.
Most of the early adopters have now purchased this vehicle, so future sales will be a little harder to generate, especially without the federal tax rebate dried up.
I imagine the next generation Prius will have long lines again IF--repeat if--has a huge leap in MPG.
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Lithous 5:46PM (2/05/2007)
This mighty Toyota, we have lower sales on a model then we don't offer incentives to equal or better our sales, no, we come out with a new design a year early to make our large sales goals - NOT. See late arriving Corolla and Tundra to show the opposite is actually true that Toyota isn't this perfectly nimble machine that people praise to the dickens about their flexible manufacturing. But whatever, they fooled Mullally (whatever the spelling is) so that is all that matters. Mullally probably still thinks to this day that Toyota's production techniques are more world influencing than Henry Ford's or Olds'. Him and Jim Press would make a great pair.
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