Forbes on the Tesla 3 and Prius Prime

I just came across the following article and am passing along a few excerpts for general interest. The good news (and the bad news) is contained in the statistics which note: "Prius Prime sales were up 42.4% year to date in July 2018 to 16,239."

August 5, 2018

Tesla Model 3 is Replacing
Toyota Prius as Green Car of Choice

By
Brooke Crothers
Consumer Tech Contributor

The Prius has been the long-standing darling of the eco-conscious car crowd. But that's changing in a hurry with the Model 3. . . . Many -- if not most -- of those are likely older traditional Prius hybrids and not the newer plug-in hybrid Prius Prime. The former, which Toyota began producing in 1997, has been the top-selling car for eco-conscious buyers for almost two decades.

Looking at monthly EV sales, the Model 3 has instantly zoomed to the top of the EV sales chart and buried the Prius Prime in the process: jumping to 14,250 Model 3s (estimated) in July compared to the Prius Prime's 1,984, according to a monthly chart posted by InsideEVs (citing Toyota's numbers here). . . .

Remember, only a few years ago, Toyota was dismissing the pure EV and pushing its slow-selling hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai instead (about 6,000 sold so far since its launch in 2014, according to Reuters). . . . Toyota's lack of EV enthusiasm combined with the Model 3's meteoric rise means that the Model 3 (and Model Y that follows) is -- or will be soon -- the reflex buy for the green car consumer.
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Most noteworth to Prius owners is the statement:

The Prius had its day (actually about two decades) as the green-car sales leader. But all good things must come to an end.​

The article also provided these statistics:

Sales of the Prius sedan are down 24% year-to-date reported through July, the Toyota Prius V is down 67.2%, and the Prius C is down 33.2%, according to Toyota's numbers. Though, to be fair, hybrid Rav4 sales are up 7.3% to 27,478 year to date in July and Prius Prime sales were up 42.4% year to date in July 2018 to 16,239. That said, Rav4 hybrid numbers were down 5.4% in July to 4,265.​

You can read the entire article here:

Tesla Model 3 Is Replacing Toyota Prius As Green Car Of Choice​