2020 Prime Ads

Am I the only one who found those "ads" sort of off-putting?

OK.
So I get the fact that most Prius drivers are humor challenged, and I also understand that gender norms are a little different in Japan than they are in the US, but...REALLY?!

Toyota has been selling cars in this country since 1958 and they've been building them in this country in their own factories since at least 1986. One would think that they would leverage their SIX DECADES of experience in selling cars in the US into something that doesn't seem to be the cultural equivalent of poorly funded Chinese to English assembly instructions.

My takeaways:
Toyota seems to think that, despite nearly a decade of mass production, and some 25 mainstream models available in the US today, people in one of the world's largest PHEV markets still do not know or understand what PHEVs are.

If people ARE a little confused about the technology, then some unfortunately stereotyped lady saying "It's not that hard to understand" is how you allay their tech phobia.

Battery anxiety isn't dead yet.
Range anxiety never will be.


What is it with Toyota and their commercials?

 

Theirs...

Ours...

 

Theirs:

Ours:

 

Theirs:

Ours:

 

Anyone else thinks 5 years of "corrosion perforation" warranty is unreasonably short by modern standards? Not that rust is a big issue where I live, but still, coupled with frame rust issues on older Toyota trucks, gotta say it doesn't inspire much faith.

 

pushing the 2 year maintenance/3 year roadside assistance is poly the most effective marketing for americans
do st people understand phevs? i don't think so. heck, most don't understand hybrids.

and most don't understand gassers, but they don't have to

 

Toyota is not wrong here. When I got the Prime, several of neighbors didn't get why I was so excited about a plug-in. They assumed I had been plugging in my Gen2 for all those years. After all, it was a hybrid, wasn't it?

 

Totally agree. Around here there the majority of people still don't understand hybrids much less *plug in* hybrids.

 

+3 one that. No one seems to get it that a plug-in hybrid is just a hybrid that you can plug in. They keep asking me, "What happens if you can't plug it in?"

 

I was going to say pop the hood and let them see the engine, but then occurred to me they may not have looked under the hood of their car.

 

We had a blackout awhile back. Several of my neighbors asked what I was going to do about driving without electricity. One understood right away when I mentioned it being a plug in hybrid, the other it took several minutes of explaining and they still didn't really get it.

 

Lots of people would probably say, "I wonder if mine opens like that, too!"

 

I just tell them, "Rats! I'll only get twice as good of gas mileage as you instead of a thousand times as good."

 

The 2020 Prime is finally on Toyota’s US site.
Only the college grad and military rebates offered so far.