High gas prices allow Toyota to slash Prius incentives

With sales of many car and truck models cratering in recent months as gas prices continued to climb and the real estate market has continued its melt down, there has been one notable exception. Toyota has seen sales of the pioneering hybrid car climb by more than 67 percent in April compared to 2007. Toyota has been able to achieve this while slashing the incentives that they introduced after federal tax credits expired for the Prius. In 2007, Toyota spent $1,471 per vehicle in sales incentives, an amount which dropped to only $123 this year.

Even Toyota hasn't been immune to the overall sales downturn, as sales have dropped 3.3 percent so far this year. Toyota is currently capacity constrained for Prius production although that situation should change in 2009 when extra capacity is expanded along with the introduction of the third-gen model.

[Source: Detroit News]