We'd wager that the last thing Toyota wants in the midst of the super-important launch of its new third-generation Prius is a negative stigma attached to the previous model. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Japanese automaker may have on its hands as a number of owners of the 2005-2008 Toyota Prius with the HID headlight option are banding together on online forums, message boards and in possible class action lawsuits against the automaker in relation to failing headlamps.

According to Advertising Age, these HID headlight bulbs and their associated electronics can sometimes cost well over $1,000 to replace after they've gone faulty, and Toyota is unwilling to pick up the tab. At least one lawsuit has reportedly been filed last month by Girard Gibbs in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on behalf of a Putnam County, N.Y., Prius owner. The suit contends that the problem is a "dangerous but undisclosed safety defect" and alleges that "Toyota is concealing the problems from owners" despite having been "long been aware of Prius' HID headlight problem." It's possible that the suit will get class-action status.

The NHTSA has reportedly filed a preliminary investigation into the issue and contacted Toyota on May 13 regarding 338 complaints it has received so far from Prius owners about the HID headlamps. Spokesmen from Toyota have said the automaker is cooperating with the NHTSA investigation, which may or may not end up calling for an official recall.



[Source: Advertising Age]

Rumors that General Motors may get access to Toyota's proprietary hybrid technology just won't go away. Today, Bloomberg cites two unnamed sources in reports that Toyota President Akio Toyoda and GM chief Fritz Henderson will meet this August in Michigan to discuss the possibility of a GM-badged version of the Toyota Prius hybrid hatchback.

For the record, both General Motors and Toyota have repeatedly denied that any such talks have taken place in the past and have said it's unlikely that they ever will in the future. Many of these rumors indicate that the two automakers are considering building the Prius together at the New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) joint venture in California, but GM has today announced that its involvement in NUMMI is over.

It remains a possibility that Toyota will fully take over the reigns at NUMMI to finally build the Prius in America, but even if that's the case, it's extremely unlikely that General Motors will have anything to do with the project in light of its own massive undertaking of readying the Chevrolet Volt for the market in 2011.



[Source: Bloomberg]
Photos copyright ©2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

By now, we've all probably seen the commercials from Toyota's latest marketing campaign for the 2010 Prius hybrid... and we've all probably developed an opinion about them. Any time an advertising campaign is as interesting and different as this one, there are bound to be opposing viewpoints either favoring or strongly disliking them.

Fortunately for Toyota, it seems that more people like the commercials for the 2010 Prius than not. In fact, Toyota's "Harmony" spot topped Nielsen's Top 10 Most-Liked New Ads list in May, and the "MPG" commercial came in at #3. For what it's worth, an advertisement for Coke came in at #2.

If you've somehow managed to miss these commercials on television since the campaign was launched back in May, we've pasted three of them after the break for your viewing pleasure. Oh, if you don't like the American marketing campaign, there's always the Japanese commercials with Superman – or better still, check out Casual Mafia's "In My Prius" sendup.

[Source: Advertising Age via Prius Chat]

The third generation Toyota Prius is just ramping up its marketing mojo, and one place you'll see plenty of the gold standard hybrid is at the gas pump. Toyota is hooking up with Gas Station TV to present "Prius Neighborhood" television program to the over 1 million unique pumpers viewers that stare at the company's pump-mounted LCD screens while they fuel up.

Prius Neighborhood is the latest effort to intertwine social media with traditional communication tools. Anyone can submit grassroots and community events via the GSTV website, and select events will actually appear at the pump, sandwiched between ads for the 50 mpg hybrid.

Those interested in following events on Prius Neighborhood can do so on Facebook, as well as Twitter at @GSTVevents. The site contains a calender of charity and community events searchable by zip code, and some of the events will be chosen for airing. GSTV airs in over 1,000 gas stations in the US, hitting 22 of the 25 top markets. Hit the jump to view the official press release after the jump.



[Source: IT News Online]

Auto sales are down – that's not exactly a surprise to anyone anymore. But Toyota has revived a little something from last summer called a wait list – for people who are interested in buying a new 2010 Prius. According to a story in The New York Times, Toyota is running its Prius production plants in Japan 24 hours a day and offering overtime to workers – even bringing in workers from other areas of the country – to meet demand for the hybrid car. Panasonic EV Energy, the Prius' battery supplier, is also working constantly to keep churning out packs for the model.

This is the effect of those higher-than-expected sales numbers. The NYT says that the waiting list is "several months" long in Japan. While impressive considering the marketplace, Toyota is still warning that 2009 will not be a profitable year for the company.



[Source: The New York Times]

When car buyers think of hybrids, the name that most often springs to mind is the Toyota Prius since it was the first really practical hybrid to come to market and has sold more than any other examples. Yes, of course, the original Honda Insight beat the Prius to market in the U.S. by about six months, but the tiny two-seater sold in equally tiny numbers and had limited appeal beyond hard core hyper milers.

In the coming weeks, Toyota dealers will start getting their first allotments of the all-new third-generation Prius, and while we got to spend a few hours with one on the west coast in March, we just spent a whole week with the new version of this iconic Toyota. While the efficiency of the Prius has never been in dispute, like many other cars from Brand T, its appeal as a driver's car has been, to say the least, limited. For its generation three model, Toyota has not given up on minimizing fuel consumption, but it has sought to make the Prius a bit more appealing on other levels. Read on to find out if the company has succeeded.



Photos copyright ©2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

To coincide with the official launch of the 2010 Toyota Prius in its home market of Japan, the automaker has unleashed a whole slew of styling and performance upgrades available through Modellista, its in-house tuning arm. There are three separate body kits available that offer varying levels of flair: Modellista Versions 1 and 2 and an Aero Tourer Kit. We're not so sure the exterior bits from the Aero Tourer kit actually improve the car's looks any, but perhaps they improve its already stellar aerodynamics somewhat.

Questionable aesthetics aside, there's also a few aftermarket bits that could potentially improve the car's handling performance, like optional 16-inch alloy wheels and a new set of springs that lower ride height by 20 millimeters. At this point, it's not expected that Toyota will import any of these kits outside of Japan, but, if you're really interested, there's always eBay.



[Source: Modellista via Le Blog Auto]

The Toyota Prius has long been a love-it-or-hate-it design. The sweeping roofline of the hybrid hatch may have been penned to maximize the car's ability to cut through the wind, but its shape is now instantly recognizable to the masses – so much so that Honda has been accused of ripping off the Prius' basic design for its latest Insight (gasp!).

Whether you're enamored or disgusted by the Prius' aesthetic, you'd better get used to the new styling cues.
The 2010 model is the shape of things to come for Toyota, debuting a few new forms that will infiltrate the rest of the automaker's line-up in the near future. Toyota's global design chief, Wahei Hirai, calls the styling of the new Prius "free-form geometrics," and a few of the more prominent elements -- including the hybrid's sharply-creased corners, slit-like front grille and bolder, more pronounced hood badge -- are all bound for future models. Good thing or bad thing? Tell us in the poll after the jump.



[Source: AutoWeek]

Toyota finally has some real hybrid competition with the new Honda Insight, but 2010 Prius orders show that the darling of the green movement is more than game in the battle for hybrid supremacy. The Japanese Nikkei Business Daily reports that Toyota already has 75,000 orders in the books; a number far greater than the 40,000 units the Japanese automaker expected. Toyota has already lowered the price of the Prius to combat the Insight's $19,180 price of entry, and early Insight sales figures show that is likely a wise move. Honda's newest hybrid sold 10,481 units in April, making it the first hybrid to ever top the Japanese sales chart.

The Prius' pre-sale success is a welcome bit of good news for Toyota. The automaker lost $7.7 billion last quarter, and the perennially successful operation expects to lose $8.6 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010. Toyota is also replacing 40% of its executive ranks as company scion Akio Toyoda takes over the company next month. The Prius goes on sale in Japan on May 18.




[Source: Reuters]

Chris, Sam and Dan kick it again for Episode #124 of the Autoblog Podcast. This time, we touch on Toyota's competitive Prius price posturing, the Shanghai Motor Show, where Chinese automakers are finding their design footing, and Chrysler Financial's flap over executive compensation and government money. Some good questions from listeners landed in our inbox, so we hit on those, too, before wrapping it up. Thanks for listening, check out our Twitter feed, and don't forget our Podcast at autoblog dot com address for your feedback.

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