ken, you got some of the numbers wrong... toyota should build more than 5 million cars this year, even if recession stays like this.

Also, Yaris, Corolla, Camry are sold in bigger numbers than that - but i believe it might be #1 toyota built in Japan as all other cars are produced elsewhere as well (those mentioned), maybe that 20% figure is for japanese production as well.

I believe orginal plan was similar to that (pre-recession), which means that they will produce Prius in full numbers possible which is great news.

If I were in the market for a new car, I wouldn't consider anything but a hybrid. The ICE cars will be dinosaurs in a few years. Big changes will be dictated by global warming and carbon emissions. I expect the whole country will adopt California standards shortly. They will make it a national security issue.

spwolf,
Thank you for your pointing out. I stand corrected.

Ken@Japan

Prius was there already... Toyota's #3 in the top-ten for the US in 2008.

436,617 Camry
351,007 Corolla/Matrix
158,884 Prius
144,655 Tacoma
137,249 Tundra
137,020 Rav4
115,944 Sienna
104,661 Highlander
102,328 Yaris
84,181 Lexus RX

Becoming as common as Corolla here would be looking pretty realistic at the increased volume.
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if i remember correctly, plan was 700k hybrids in 2009 and 1m in 2010... that was before recession... which means that Toyota is putting a lot behind hybrids.

Thank you, Danny.

Ken@Japan

always ken with the cool info...

Could it be that Toyota had plans to build Prius in the USA but since the recession kicked in those plans have been put on ice, so the planned Japanese production is now higher because there will be no US production this year?

Hopefully there will be a lot of pre-orders in the US so Toyota build Priuses in USA. Stronger JPY against USD should help this as well.

That's true to an extent. Your comparison numbers (neat to see btw) show it has been for several years, but I think the perception might still be lagging a bit. I know I have seen a huge increase in Prius numbers locally since we joined the club in 2004 (used to be then seeing maybe one a week around town, now it is usually multiple sightings every day).

However, being nearly as common as Corolla would knock that perception right out of the park! Not to mention surprising on a car that Toyota cant/isn't making any money on .

Huge numbers either way you slice it.....just wish I could get on the 2010 Prius bandwagon

As absurd as that belief was in the past, we have to wonder how the greenwashers will push it now. With about 90% of the design revised over the past 5.5 years, why wouldn't this new model deliver profit?
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Not to mention that Toyota lowered the price on the basic Prius architecture. I've never known Toyota to be a not-for-profit organization. To me this means that they have achieved their stated goal of reducing the cost of the hybrid configuration. Thus the lower price in a competitive environment.

Toyota has shareholders. Shareholders would never tolerate a 200,000-car-per-year "pet project" that brought in zero profit. The Prius is making something positive, even if it's only $1.00 per car, it MUST be in the green, or else shareholders would have killed the Prius a long time ago.

Sounds like Japanese shareholders are less tolerant than Americans. American shareholders don't seem to mind back-to-back billion dollar losses then reward those responsible.