Toyota May Scale Back Its Prius Lineup Due To Slow Sales

that's the market. inside your box, you don't see it changing. toyota has other ideas.

 

my neighbors drive bmw's, suburu's, audi's, tesla, range rovers, mercedes, jeeps, lexii, volvo's, pick ups, you name it. i'm the only prius on the street, they're the target market.

 

And most of the market I list isn't going to buy a Prius.

Of the ones that would actually buy a new car, they might buy a Tundra Hybrid. They might buy a RAV4 Hybrid. They might buy a Lexus GS 450h (although that'd likely be too expensive). But, no Prius.

 

we're not talking prius, we're talking prime.

 

I'm struggling with the concept of the "target market." Isn't there such as thing as the "base." In politics they are always talking about and concerned about their "base." In my opinion, it's important to maintain your "base" as well as convert others to the brand, thereby expanding the "base." I would not think a corporation could maintain profitability by abandoning the "base" while exerting all of their energy in search for new patrons.

I did not initially felt that I had been abandoned .... until I was told that I am not the "target market."

 

it's important to maintain your base, if your base is 40%. if your base is 1 or 2%, it doesn't matter at all.
toyota is willing to forego their base for the greater good. after 20 years of trying, i think they've seen the writing on the wall. it's either move forward, or get out the way.

 

Bingo! It never ceases to amaze me how some don't notice that bigger picture at play. The audience is completely overlooked.

Toyota has stated many times how they want to expand the market by offering new choices to appeal to new audiences. Prius Prime is most definitely one of those new choices. RAV4 hybrid is another.

That's why I get annoyed by arguments about Prius shoppers being turned off by the cabin & cargo arrangement for Prius Prime. It's a red herring. The purpose of appealing to those thinking of electrification should be obvious. It's not a hybrid relying solely on gas for power. Different alternatives to traditional vehicles will have different tradeoffs. Direct comparisons simply don't make sense.

The industry mindset has been conquest & cannibalize. That actually works for initial rollouts, especially when large subsidies are available. When you want to phase out older products, that is a terrible approach. You have to find a way to entice those who have yet to show any interest, not to get those who already have to upgrade. It's what economics is all about. You have to look beyond engineering & accounting.

Marketing to non-Prius owners presents new challenges... which means old solutions won't work.

 

it's not a red herring, it's simply a personal opinion. current pip owners have a right to voice their displeasure with prime for their own reasons.
a red herring would be someone predicting that prime won't sell in reasonably large quantities for those reasons that you state. and even then, they have a valid opinion, and only the market can tell us who is correct.

i believe you are correct on the lift back is to maintain base and bring in people who haven't purchased for the many factors toyota addressed.
however, toyota's market intentions for the prime have not been stated, and leave many here confused. we can all make a guess, but only time will tell.

 

I agree; however, that is for lack of a better term.

Mixing personal & business reasons is what has contributed to a large number of problems in the past.

We need better identification of topic.