The Prius v will be arriving in late October and will be priced starting at $26,400 and top out at $29,990 (plus $5,580 for the Advanced Technology package). Full details from Toyota below.

Toyota just announced an increase in the MSRP of just about the full lineup of Toyota, Scion, and Lexus models, including the Prius. Effective for vehicles with scheduled May arrivals from Japan, the Prius will increase in price by $470 across the board. This increase looks to be attributed to Toyota's forecast of increasing production costs following the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan earlier this month, but even North American-produced vehicles are seeing between a 1.2 and 2.2 percent price increase.

The new pricing will be as follows (effective May 2011):

The Prius v will join the Prius family starting at a $28,500 price point, at least in Japan, according to the Japanese business daily Nikkei. This lines up with what some of our dealer contacts were foreseeing as the entry price here in the US, though there are no hard rumors on specific pricing for the US market. A price in the high-20s would make the Prius v a competitive product in the growing wagon/crossover segment.

Ah, this story reminds me of the good old days back in late 2003 and all of 2004 when the Prius was facing huge markups by Toyota dealers across the country. Even then, the premium was usually only around $5,000. But the Chevy Volt is facing a whole new type of greed. FavStocks is reporting that "at least one GM dealer is planning to add a $20,000 dealer markup to each of the 9 Volts the dealer is to receive through 2011."

$20,000 on top of the $41,000 sticker price!

It's been a couple of months since I've seen a good example of bad journalism, but this article had my attention from the title: "Chevy Volt priced in the US: Cheaper than a Prius".

And there it is. After 3 years of speculation, we finally have a price for the 2011 Chevy Volt: $33,500 after the $7,500 federal tax credit, or $41,000 MSRP. This price includes destination and a massive list of standard features.

GM is getting very aggressive with the Volt's lease price. The 3 year 36 month lease will be $350 per month with a $2,500 down payment due at signing.

The news is out: The Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle will cost $32,780 minus a $7,500 federal tax credit bringing the cost down to around $25k. Many states have additional tax credits available, such as California's additional $5,000 credit. Cost of the charging equipment will run you about $2,200, but the federal government will give you a tax credit for 50% of that cost.

Thinking about making the jump to a 2010 Prius anytime soon? Better do it by the end of January and save yourself $400. Toyota just announced that "effective with vehicles arriving on vessels on or after January 24, 2010", the Prius' price will be going up 1.7%. The ships take a couple of weeks to get to the US ports from Japan, so the pricing probably won't show up on window stickers until the first week of February.

The good folks with the Prius Team have shared some details in the PriusChat forums about the Prius I and a "price adjustment" on the Prius II-V models. The Prius I is the "base" model Prius that was announced to compete with the Honda Insight on price, while still offering the MPG and size of the Prius. Between January to May, Toyota probably was pretty worried about the Insight cramping the Prius' sales figures. So they came up with the idea of the Prius I, a "stripped, not equipped" version of the car.

Lexus Announces Pricing for New 2010 HS250h, World’s First Hybrid-Only Luxury Vehicle