New member here from Vancouver British Columbia Canada excited to be taking delivery tomorrow on a brand new 2026 Prius XSE Premium PHEV in Guardian Grey. The car is my wife's but hopefully I will get some seat time . New to the world of hybrid and EV but not new to forums as I am quite active on the Honda forums since I own a Honda and was active on the Nissan forums since my wife's previous car was a Nissan but PHEV are new to me so lots of questions to come. Will post some pics.
Why the glut? When I picked up my HEV, I noticed that the same three PHEV Prii were on my dealer's lot 5 weeks after I ordered the car.
Where I live I think the EV rebates have dried up and the majority of the people don't want to pay the extra $$$ for a plug-in versus hybrid. My wife got a nice rebate bringing down the price very close to a hybrid model Prius. Dealer said they were motivated to move inventory to hit quotas.
And here I thought Toyota Canada was intentionally limiting units. Guess not for the Prius PHEV. (Or they are but the demand isn’t there).
Not sure but the couple dealers I spoke with they had stock on 2026 Prius models in all trims. The dealer that I bought the Prius from told me RAV4 hybrid wait times ~1.5 years, Corolla Cross hybrid ~2 years, Sienna hybrid ~2 years.
Hard to tell just driving by, but if it's like here, likely all or most plug-in. One further downside of big batteries: (in plug-ins or pure electric): tires wear out faster. Our daughter's Tesla 3 seems to really eat up tires. Looked it up and AI summary said they do, due to greater curb weight, and the instant torque. The Tesla 3 weights roughly 800 pounds more than our 2010. I think we matched her yesterday: Interesting: the lug nut torque on tesla 3 is 129 ft/lb.
My brother in-law Tesla's tires wore out ~2 years. I'm looking at it as a opportunity to upgrade tires sooner rather than later .
I though the EV/PHEV curb weights were not greater than many other vehicles of the next heavier classes. Are the manufacturers not selecting proper tire sizes and load ranges? Making hard use of the instant torque is another matter, of driving style. I do admit to taking off somewhat quicker in my PHEV than in previous vehicles -- sooner because there is no clutch or engine spin-up delay, but not with the acceleration of the muscle cars.
