Am i seeing things!

I seen an add the other day all about the Prius and how they have more on the lot. They also said you get a tax credit. I forgot how much they said but they was marketing the Prius like it was some new car that just came out.

 

I would think that after almost 3 years without any advertising they are probably now just starting to say it's needed. We see ads for the Camray, Corolla, Tundra, RAV4 the whole lineup but until now nothing on the hybrids. The have been selling despite the lack of advertising so I wonder how much Toyota has save on Ad costs? millions or hundred of millions. Probalby enought to fund the development of the HSD line up.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Frank Hudon @ Jan 14 2007, 03:16 PM) [snapback]375587[/snapback]</div>

There's been plenty of advertising, maybe just not in your area or maybe not on sites that you visit.

See my post from December 2005 at http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...mp;#entry173338.

 

Yeah, I've seen the Prius commercial twice now, but the one i've seen is just the Prius, no other cars. Pretty cool commercial though. They do seem to be advertising the hybrids more though, since they didn't have to at all before. Cool, as long as people keep buying 'em. What an amazing car!!

 

were seeing the HSD ad with the HyCam HyHi and Prius there have been others but nothing like the continuos barrage of other Toyota ads. The Prius has been a bomb in Canada with them sitting on dealer lots since about May of 2004. The dealers all say the HyCam sells really well and the Prius sits on the lot and gathers dust. My local dealer has new and used on his lot as of right now. Been that way since 2004, No HyCam’s you have to put in an order for them and wait. Toyota made a big mistake by not advertising up here. Oh well they probably didn’t care at the time as they had huge backlog of orders south of the border. More product for them. Pull the computer for the speedo and ship down south.

 

There are even a bunch of billboard ads in the San Francisco Bay Area! You would think there are enough Prii in the Bay Area already (one day I even counted 123 Prii ). The billboard has a picture of the Prius and says "60 miles and miles and miles and miles and miles per gallon." Well it's something like that.

 

Up to this point in time, the Prius has had very strong appeal to a rather select group of consumers (those that are environmental conscious, conservative on fuel, etc.). It is obvious that many of the early adopters of the technology have bought the car. Now that demand has fallen off from that group of people and Toyota has increased production; they are clearly trying to go "main stream" and appeal / sell to the broader population. To the former group of people, the Prius sold itself. For the broader population, Toyota needs to actively market the vehicle.

Keith

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Jan 14 2007, 10:03 PM) [snapback]375737[/snapback]</div>

Destination has 2 on the lot a blue used and a grey new. It's been there for at least a month now. Probably more in the storage lot, I think I saw a Barcelona Red one in storage. You deal with Downtown don't you? I can't remember the last time I was down that end of town. At least a year.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Jan 14 2007, 10:32 PM) [snapback]375751[/snapback]</div>

that's what my dealer tells me and a few up country that I stopped at on holidays last year.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Frank Hudon @ Jan 15 2007, 03:49 AM) [snapback]375619[/snapback]</div>

Do you believe that Toyota has done well with the little advertising on the Prius? Obviously not if they collectiing dust at the dealership? How would you suggest they improve their marketing strategy in order to move the hybrids?

Question is open to all, as a Marketing Manager, I would luv to hear your views?

 

I don't know about your area, but gas is at an all time high here in California.

Besides, that's a stupid reason not to buy a hybrid, because gas is "cheap". Since when is $2.50 a gallon cheap? Even if gas was $1.00 a gallon you'd still be spending half as much as the other cars driving on the road, it's not like your MPG changes. I filled up my tank yesterday for $29, and i'm still pissed that I have to pay that much for it, I look forward to gas prices going down again. That argument is flawed.

 

Well I know were I used to live in North Carolina they are not advertising the prius. I was down there helping a friend move up here and actually saw other prius on the road. When I lived down there my prius and the guy at the bank were the only prius I would see. Now they are all over especially at hospital.

The Toyota dealership actually had one on the lot. I stopped by to say high to my salesman and he said they can’t keep the prius on the lot. It turns out that the one on the lot was already spoken for. It came in that morning and sold in the first two hours being on the lot.

My friend was always talking down about my car until I came down there. He was paying for the gas and I told him to just fill my tank up when we get to Virginia and that it should only be about $25. He could not believe I was able to make the round trip on one tank of gas. The trip is 450ish miles round trip. We loaded my car full of boxes. My prius actually held more boxes than his wife’s small suv. His wife wants a prius now.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(orionll @ Jan 14 2007, 11:13 PM) [snapback]375742[/snapback]</div>

Now there is an ad that says

And it is in Berkeley too! Why does Toyota put Prius ads in the area where there are the most Prii are maybe in the entire United States? (the area is reffering to the bay area)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mywhitenoise @ Mar 25 2007, 08:34 AM) [snapback]411881[/snapback]</div>

We are currently paying $1.14 a liter, 3.78 liters makes a US gallon = C$4.30 a US gallon Your gas is so cheap it doesn't warrant worrying about mileage. Still people up here in Canada still don't consider the hybrids. DC's Smart For Two probably outsells the Prius 3 to 1 with no advertising.
Edit: and it's a horrible little polluter.

 

The very best add is on the road. It is right in my neighborhood. One out of every 20 cars on the road is a Prius. It is nothing short of Prius Heaven. It is wonderful to be in the company of so many eco neighbors on the west side of LA.

WE all gently accelerate from a stop pulse and glide and coast together. Sometimes a gentle toot of the horn and a little smile too.

Also very relaxing to not be run off the road by the Hummer-SUV maniacs too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DolphinC @ Mar 25 2007, 10:28 AM) [snapback]411877[/snapback]</div>

Whats funny well not really is that my wife said since we just purchased our prius gas will go back to 1.05 per gallon, cause it always seem like what we do lately goes the wrong direction. but still would be half the cost due to the mileage but I dont think that would offset the huge cost of the purchase..lol