Toyota will sell second-gen Priuses alongside 2010 models in Japan, not in U.S.
by Sebastian Blanco on Mar 2nd 2009 at 7:47AM 
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2010 Toyota Prius
We've finally gotten some official confirmation from Toyota about the sell-two-Prius-models-at-once strategy we've heard so much about. During a recent media event where we drove the next-gen 2010 Toyota Prius (sorry, we can't say much about that right now) we had a chance to talk with John McCandless, from Toyota corporate communications, and Masahiko Maeda, assistant chief engineer who was heavily involved with developing the 2010 Prius. They confirmed that both the current and next-gen models will be available for sale at the same time, but only in Japan. Here in the U.S., once the 2010 version hits the streets, that's all she wrote for the old model. Well, except for dealers who participate in the Toyota's Certified Used Hybrid Program. While Toyota hasn't released pricing information for the new Prius, we're pretty sure it'll be more than the Honda Insight. Considering the strong sales the Insight has had in Japan thus far, keeping a cheaper Prius option around seems like a smart move for Toyota.
Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
big L 4:10PM (3/02/2009)
there must be a Toyota plan to take all the old 1st gen Priuses off the market. I figure there have got to be 50,000 sold of the first ones. Yet here in so calif they are all gone. So do they get crushed or a re the oler models turned in for credit on dealer's bill to toyota?
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Carl M 11:41AM (3/02/2009)
Um... won't the 2010 Prius be the third generation?
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Sebastian 12:11PM (3/02/2009)
Yes, but in Japan both second and third generations will be available at the same time for the foreseeable future.
gorr 2:28PM (3/02/2009)
It's not difficult to see that toyota is in the red zone for the first time in their history and that they have difficulty of selling that car that use gasoline and just hypermiles it for you , so it don't offer anything more then a conventionnal chevette of the 70s. This car emits toxicity like 100% of the other cars on the road. It's an ugly car too, with impeded vision with a big windshield put 3 feets in front of you with an important rake angle, the vision at the back is impeded too and tha a pillar obstruct the vision , especially when you turn left. It look a communism martial car made to extract every once of mandated fuel to please the martians.
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