European Prius info

so basically, best selling cars here are between 13k and 25k USD in price, while Prius costs 33-40k USD.

Prius is same price class as Avensis (like Passat), and new Avensis is projected to sell less than 2x less than Yaris and Auris (Corolla).

 

To add some corroboration to this, according to SMMT, the UK motor industry trade body, the best selling cars in the UK in 2007 were:

#1 Ford Focus (C segment), 126,928 registered
#2 Vauxhall Astra (C), 113,894
#3 Ford Fiesta (B), 102,872
#4 Vauxhall Corsa (B), 94,120
#5 VW Golf (C), 68,843
#6 Peugeot 207 (C), 67,185
#7 BMW 3-series (C/D), 58,544
#8 Renault Mégane (C), 55,468
#9 Renault Clio (C), 53,907
#10 Vauxhall Vectra (C/D), 50,983

The Prius counts as C/D-segment, it's certainly bigger than even the current Ford Focus.

B-segment cars made up 32.1% of the market in 2007, and C-segment 30.0%. The C/D segment was only 16.1%. I don't have 2008 numbers yet, but here's the top ten by model:

1 Ford Focus 101,593
2 Vauxhall Corsa 99,574
3 Ford Fiesta 94,989
4 Vauxhall Astra 90,641
5 VW Golf 65,029
6 Peugeot 207 53,462
7 BMW 3 Series 49,384
8 Ford Mondeo (C/D segment) 44,150
9 Vauxhall Zafira (Mini-MPV) 43,169
10 Vauxhall Vectra 42,555

The Honda Insight may do well here because it's a C-segment car. I love my Prius, but it is hard to park sometimes because my neighbours only leave enough space for a smaller car. (No garages on my road - residents parallel-park on the street, or the next street which is part of the same residents' parking zone.)

All data from SMMT.co.uk.

 

This is a bit hard for most Americans to picture: The Prius being too big!

When I visited recently, I borrowed a cousin's Renault Clio, and I jambed my family inside (two little children). We parked at a fair, next to an original Mini. When we walked away, I looked back at the two cars and was astonished to find the Clio was visibly smaller than one of the older Minis. Wow! I can't imagine what an Escalade would look like in that environment.

 

You could if you were me, born and raised in England until emigrating state-side in 1963. I lived in rural Norfolk, near a town called Kings Lynn ( Lynn in MA is named after it). Sculthorpe was a big USAF base nearby and some of the GIs who lived locally brought their Detroit-built cars with them. They were huge, compared to UK cars, sometimes spanning almost the entire width of the road in some rural areas! Always an object of fascination to us locals.

 

It is amazing, isn't it?

In that Clio I was driving (in Ireland), I found roads so narrow, with no shoulders, that I had to back up to a crossroads once just to let another car pass. Find a lorry out there and watch out!

 

overall lenght of Insight is only few cm smaller than Prius... big difference is wheelbase where insight has wheelbase smaller than Corolla while Prius is Camry sized wheelbase.

 

In Romania the 2008/09 Prius is sold in one package , it's called SOL , the list of standard equipemnts is quite big , the main features are 6 Airbags , JBL 9 speaker system , 6 CD Changer with MP3 , Keyless entry and start , EV Mode , 16" Alloy rims , pretension seatbelts and active headrests , ABS , ESP , VSC , Uphill drive assist , and manny other .

The optional features are : bumper foglamps , back-up camera , self parking system , Viper security system , iPod integration , Legislative pack (fire extiguisher, safety reflective triangle, and reflective traffic vest) .

Sone of the options are given away by the dealler , the cost of the car with all taxes included is 25.500 Euro , usauly is a 2000 Euro discount applied .

The color options are White , Black , Silver , Blue (Seaside pearl and Blue Mica) , Silver pine mica , Chilly Red and Metallized beige .

The Prius is advertised with the slogan The Power of A Bright Idea , and is promoted by Mihaela Radulescu (a popular TV show host).

The 2010 is awayted for July 09 .

 

backup camera/IPA/nav is factory package as well, even if they sell it as "option"... it is probably the same in rest of eastern europe.

in germany and uk, they have stripped down versions of Prius to make it cheaper.

 

mmm the chief engineer told me that the battery is identical to the gen 2 prius
only the housing design is changed

but when i look at the pdf ik read this
----------------------------------
High Output Battery
Using proven and reliable nickel-metalhydride technology, the Hybrid Synergy
Drive® battery output has been increased to a maximum of 27kW (+2kW) to allow
the new Prius to operate in EV mode, driving under electric motor power alone.
The battery itself has been further reduced in size to minimise impact on cabin
accommodation and a significant increase in fan capacity has improved cooling
system efficiency.

 

I'm ashame to tell you that in Romania , in 2008 , only 68 Prii were sold , and 40 or so samples in 2006-2007 , the car is viewed by the public as Gay , week and underpowered and verry expensive compared to cars similar in size , the best seller is Skoda Octavia II and VW Passat , for my comand it tok 2 month to deliver .


In total there are over 140 cars registered in Romania, including several Gen I .

The 2010 Prius will be sold in 1 or more packages , this is the tradition in Romania for Toyota , all models are sold in packages , like Terra, Luna, Sol , the Sol configuration is the best , and the Terra is the simplest .

If you have andy questions , please ask .

 

I canceled the order , for some time i'm waiting for gen3 or i'l get gen 2 , i'm wayting for July for the big unveillemnt . The next one (set for February 09), was Metalic Beige , verry rare , but kinda dubios looking , compared to the other colors , available .

In Romania many Priuses are sold preconfigured (SOL Package) and the colors are preselected by the dealer , for example the Silver Pine Mica is verry rare and the Metalic Red is also Red , the Silver , Blue (Sea Side Pearl) and Black ones are more common .

I forgot to tell that Navigation and Bluetooth Carkit is also optional , but only when you place an order .


To own a Prius here is a matter of taste , because many richmen in ROmania , buy VW Touareg , Porsche Cayenne (even at my college there are some cars, theyre belong to the students not the unversity), and many expensive but main stream cars , niche sollutions aren't verry wellcomed , the Lexus RX400h and other hibrids from that brand are selling beter than Prius .

The Toyota dealers are respected and many of them do theire job great , and at moderate prices , compared to Vw and Peugeot .

 

Other model , like Avensis Have the Confort and Executive line , due to the executive class of the car , many Avensis (this model is between Camry and Corolla) are owned by companys , as staff cars w/o chaufer .

In Germany they have for the Prius , on example that i remeber is Executive and Executive Navi Plus , according the german toyota site , they have the Prius , Sol and Executive variants for the 2009 model , the 2010 one is awayted also .

 

The price of the T3 hasn't changed since about a year ago but the dollar/£ exchange rate has changed massively. At $2 to the £, that would have been about $35,000. The pricing of the 3G may give us a bit of a shock.

VAT is 15%, there are also some countries in the EU which charge a showroom sales tax on new cars which is very high.

 

in France...

I’m not a prius owner, because it’s really too expensive for me now, but I’m interested in ecology et next technologies, so I’m interested in prius

In France prius is available in two packages : “sol†(25950 euros) and “10ème anniversaire†(29000 euros). The french administration repay 2000 euros to prius buyers because it's an hybrid vehicle, so, indeed, the two finitions cost 23950 euros and 27000 euros.
For others names examples : Auris is available in Terra, Luna, Luna Pack, and Sol, Avensis is available in Active, Dynamic, Executive, and Lounge.

I think there are about 20000 prius in France (I’ve never seen any prius 1, but in cities you can see some prius 2). EDF (the French electric power company) have about 100 prius plug-in to test the plug-in technology for Toyota.

Prius is bigger and more expensive than best-sold cars in France (and in a lot of others european countries), so I think Toyota would sell more hybrids if they sold an Auris or a Yaris with hybrid technology (Auris could be available in 2010).

Another problem for prius in France : diesel-powered cars, made by french and german companies, are better known by people, and aren’t more expensive. And journalists don’t often like prius because they think prius is underpowered. But I guess Prius 3 will change this opinion