Toyota cranking up Prius production to meet early demand in Japan
2010 Toyota Prius - click above for a high-res gallery
Apparently, the Honda Insight isn't the only new hybrid stimulating strong early demand in Japan. Toyota is responding to over 40,000 orders received in the first three weeks of April for the 2010 Prius by increasing production rates. Toyota had originally forecast about 300,000 sales for 2009, but has now increased that to 500,000 worldwide. Prius production was originally scheduled for 40,000 units per month for the rest of this year, but rate will now go to 50,000 per month starting in June. Toyota expects pre-orders in Japan to hit between 60,000 and 70,000 by the time deliveries start. In fiscal 2008, which ended March 31, Toyota sold only 70,618 Priuses in Japan.
Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius
[Source: Nikkei via Green Car Congress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
efried 2:51PM (4/27/2009)
I wonder if they still use NiMH in order to limit losses per vehicle or whether they have started to earn real money with the perfect urban taxi.
Reply
downtoearth 4:54PM (4/27/2009)
efried:
> I wonder if they still use NiMH in order to limit losses per vehicle
> or whether they have started to earn real money with the perfect urban taxi.
Hello HybridHater, futile are your bites. Toyota started earning big money on Prius a long time ago. As I read in technical publications (can even provide a source although I'd have to search a bit), Prius development wasn't that much more costly than in case of other cars.
And they sold over a million of those.
Third generation starts soon. Does not really look like a money loosing project, don't you think?
And the portfolio rose from one hybrid in 1998 to seven now. Does not look like non-profitable business.
Why NiMH?
Why Li-Ion? NiMH are cheaper, proven and work. Their larger size is apparently not a problem since batteries have been minimized enough.
No wonder Mercedes made S400 hybrid with Li-Ion and ML400 hybrid with... NiMH.