Toyota Said to Slash Prius Price in Duel With Honda

Toyota Said to Slash Prius Price in Duel With Honda


Toyota Said to Slash Prius Price in Duel With Honda (Update1) - Bloomberg.com


April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, will cut the base price of its Prius gas- electric hybrid model by $1,000 to $21,000, as it competes with Honda Motor Co.’s Insight, said a person familiar with the matter.
Honda introduced the Insight on March 24 with a sticker price starting at $19,800, undercutting the 2009 Prius, which starts at $22,000. Toyota will announce prices on the 2010 model tomorrow, with details about the new car tomorrow, said the person, who asked not to be named because the statement is pending.
The two hybrids were introduced more than a decade ago. Since then the Prius has led in sales, accounting for half of all such models sold in the U.S. Honda dropped the original two- seat Insight in 2006 and revived the name this year with a bigger version.
Insight’s fuel efficiency is rated at 41 miles per gallon, combined for city and highway driving, said Sage Marie, a Honda spokesman.
Prius, classified as a midsize sedan, will be rated at a combined 50 miles per gallon, said the person familiar with the price.
‘Huge Brand’
A Toyota spokesman in Japan declined a month ago to confirm or deny a Nikkei newspaper report that the automaker planned to cut the price of its older model Prius to match the price of the new Insight.
New Prius models will be available in a month; the cheaper ones not until later in the year, said the person.
Details were disclosed to a small group of Toyota dealers today at a meeting in Washington, D.C., said the person.
“Prius has become a synonym for hybrid, it’s a huge brand unto itself,†said David Fischer, a car dealer based in Troy, Michigan and owner of a Toyota franchise. “Insight will do the same for Honda. The hybrid is no longer a boutique concept, it’s becoming mainstream.â€
Through the first quarter of the year Prius sold 24,277 units in the U.S., off 43 percent from a year earlier. Insight sold 569 cars in March, when it had limited time in the U.S. market.
The new Prius is the model’s third generation, billed by Toyota as bigger and more fuel-efficient.
To contact the reporters on this story: Doron Levin in Southfield, Michigan, at [email protected]