Toyota to spike Prius production by 60% by 2009
Contrary to some recent speculation that Toyota might be capacity constrained when it comes to producing producing Priuses. It looks like the onset of an all new third-generation Prius next January (along with a Lexus badged companion) has triggered Toyota to invest in some more capacity at the two Japanese assembly plants that build them. After building 280,000 Priuses in 2007, an increase of thirty-three percent, next year's production should jump another sixty percent. It's not known if those 450,000 units of volume will be dedicated to Prius or if they will also include the new Lexus dedicated hybrid model. Either way it will go a long way toward meeting Toyota's long term goal of producing a million hybrids a year by 2020.
[Source: GreenCarCongress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GoodCheer 11:37AM (3/28/2008)
I would generally give Toyota credit for having a pretty good handle on what their future demand will be. All the same, that's a BIG increase. I hope they're right (if all the new cars as clean as the Prius).
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Yggdrasilly 11:42AM (3/28/2008)
Do you mean "spike" or "step?"
"Spike" implies a one-time event of brief duration, like they're going to pump out 60% more cars over their normal production rate this year, then revert to the normal rate when that's done (by 2009?).
"Step" implies that they'll jump production up by 60%, then stay at that level idefinitely, which is what the text of your entry seems to say.
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Joseph 1:37PM (3/28/2008)
Toyota made 280,000 Prii?
That sounds like alot considering that they sold 180,000 in the U.S. I guess the market in Europe, Japan and Canada is large enough to make up the other 100k. But I thought hybrids weren;t common out of the U.S.
About the increase, I don't know if Toyota will be able to sell 60% more Prii in the U.S. To put in perspective just how many Prii are sold (180k) consider that Toyota sold 437K Camry last year and 84k Yaris last year. The Prius is not a niche product; it is a core product, one that I think has reached its potential in the U.S.
Maybe the production is going up 60%, but instead of planning to sell 60% more in the U.S. they are planning for the potential growth of hybrid sales in Europe.
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eddy 4:00PM (3/28/2008)
The Lexus version could be a nice alternative to the Audi A3 and the BMW 1-Series. Perhaps that would sell well here in Germany.
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mike 1:50PM (3/29/2008)
If it has a plug, there will be increased demand.
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