Wait list for Prius exceeds the government rebate plan in Japan.

I didn`t spot this elsewhere, and don`t have any link to the info in English, but thought you guys might be interested. If this belongs in the news area, please move it there. I only have the Japanese link, so wasn`t sure if it should really go there.

Currently Japan is offering a plan something like the CARS thing (I assume, I`m not too familiar with the one in the US) - if you trade in to get a car with much better mileage you will get a government rebate. If the car is newer than 13 years, you receive approx. $1000. If it`s 13+ years old, then you receive approx. $2500. This is in addition to a waiver of automobile taxes for the first year (also huge, as it includes the acquisition tax on the car).
The tax waiver lasts until 2012, but in order to receive the rebate you have to receive your car (tax kicks in when you get the car, not when you order or pay for it) by March 31, 2010.

On the 23rd, Toyota released a statement regarding the 2010 Prius. All orders taken after that date will be passed on to the consumer AFTER April 1st, so will no longer be eligible for the government rebate.

I`m thinking this may push down the sales of the Prius and raise those of the Insight. A quick drive around and every Honda dealership I passed had huge flags and handmade signs out advertising that not only will you have your new Insight, assembled just for you, within 2 weeks (They`ve had those up for about a month now) - but it will still be eligible for the rebate.

Not to mention that you're eating up 80% of all Prius.

But still nowhere near meeting demand.
It seems that there is a <1 month wait on most models of Prius outside of Japan, which to me doesn`t sound like a bad deal at all. If the 20% not going toward Japan is keeping things at that level, why complain?

I would kill to get mine in a month. I think I`d faint if I actually saw one for direct sale at a dealer.

I suspect battery supplies are still the critical resource. Even if the Mississippi plant had opened, shipments of batteries might have limited production.

Bob Wilson

Living right by Toyota, I`m hearing that it`s assembly and testing. They`re running the assembly line 24/7, but that`s just not fast enough. They`re supposedly pushing them out one every so many minutes, but can`t rush it to keep the quality up.