Prime destined to be doa?

i think low gas and oil prices are an issue now. if the competition is other plug ins, there's no point. if it's trucks, small and midsize cars, prime will be at a disadvantage until gas skyrockets.

anyone can take a wag the the distant future, but for the next few years, things don't look too good.
heck, even prius sales have plateaued.

 

So when GM did it, it was a bad thing, yet when Toyota does it, four seats is no longer a bad thing?

That is more than "flexible", it is hypocritical.

 

let's just call it 1 sided & overly flexible for the sake of grace and kindness

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to me, if toyota were serious about prime being the next big thing, they would have allowed for battery space while designing the chassis. even if they had left the possibility of prime having the old fixed axle, there would have been more room available.

 

Wouldn't that be cool though? To actually offer multiple battery packs the way Tesla does? That doesn't seem to be the trend though, of most manufacturers nowadays. Jeez a million decades ago it seems like manufacturers would give 50 million levels of chrome trim, engine sizes, tranny types, colors, upholstery, etc. But times change.

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yup. we live in a homogenous society, while at the same time multigenerational.

 

'MERICA!

 

no kidding - there was a time when the Prius was #1 seller in CA. People are fickled.
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people are (mostly) driven by their wallets. funny thing, after 12 years, i still can't see any car worth buying other than prius.

 

The traditional auto companies move at a glacial pace.
However, there are some signs of movement in that direction.

The Nissan Leaf currently offers both a 24kWh and 30kWh pack.

While there have been no hints about it, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bolt offered a couple of battery sizes.

 

I like the map, but I don't get it. Civic is No. 1 in CA 80000 sales and Prius is #2 72000. BMW 3 series way way back like 24000, but if you say Prii and Civic are not really cars (rule out compacts) then BMW OK is up there in the luxury vehicle category.

CA is the only state where we have the data, so who knows about the other states.

see CNCDA.org 4th quarter report 2015

 

What prevented Toyota from doing so with the PiP?

And who actually argued that four seats was a good thing?

 

i thought there was something funky about that map.

apparently, 11 miles with 5 seats and huge hatch space wasn't worth it.

but make no mistake, unless toyota goes all 'tesla' with their dealers, they will never get plug in support from them. no one can point to a dealer where that has been effective. they would have to superincentivise the dealers, re: $$$$$, to get anywhere, and there isn't enough profit in plug ins to make that worthwhile. this is really pie in the sky projecting our desires on the world type of thinking.

 

I don't think I agree.
I have been to a few dealers that do an outstanding job selling plugins.

Yes, additional dealer incentives would help, however, I don't think they need to be extreme.
The sales reps need knowledge and manufacturer support to make it easy for customers to find answers to their questions.
Web sites laying out all the information (which can easily be available in kiosks at dealers as well).

I don't see this as incredible expensive or even difficult. It is just a question of desire.

 

i can't speak for everywhere, but the dealers i've been to over the last 40 years around these parts don't keep salespeople for more than a year or two. all they want to do is sell you a car before you leave, likely the one with the most commission.

 

Yeah, let's not. John is a MONSTER hypocrite, Toyota can do no wrong no matter what they do.

If enough people like him worked at Toyota, they'd be dead meat. You need a balance with skeptics and even pessimists to balance the brown-nosers like John before driving a company off the cliff because you miss the feedback from the real market where little things can blow up to big things.

Toyota was warned quite some time ago that 4 seats when the Volt 2.0 would have 5, and HALF the EV mileage, would make it a tough sale. The people that were warned, though, couldn't do a lot about it. I felt sorry for what they were/are going through.

What Toyota needs is to get Toyota USA input in much earlier in the process. I continue to be flumoxed with how little influence Toyota USA seems to have over the Prius design, considering the percentage of world Prius sales that come from here.

 

still thinking about it...

i agree with much of what you say, but also, this is such a small part of toyotas business, throwaway really, i don't think they care.

 

4-seaters, 5-seaters? Lame.


Bring back the 6-seaters.

 

those were great for dating. i was so disappointed when buckets became popular.