Prius put on hold in India; too expensive?

India's not getting Toyota's super-popular hybrid hatchback after all. Apparently, because the car is assembled outside of India's borders, it's subject to a huge 114 percent import duty tax, which makes it pretty difficult to offer the hybrid at an attractive price. Apparently, Honda managed to do just that, though, and that has made Toyota's decision to pull the Prius just that much easier. When the Honda Civic Hybrid was priced up near $40K, the Japanese automaker sold only 60 units. Indians that actually wanted to buy a hybrid couldn't afford one. To help move the metal, Honda "temporarily" slashed the price of the Civic Hybrid, lowering the price of entry all the way to just $26K. That's a major move and it surely means that the cars are being sold at a significant loss. Therefore, don't expect Toyota to bring in Chinese or Japanese-assembled Prius hybrids any time soon.

[Source: Just-Auto - sub. req'd]