Has Prius lost its shine?

They sold 95 cars in one month in the whole of Canada? Wow that's low.

You got a population of 34 million yet only sell over 1,000 Prii a year. Times are either very hard or your price of petrol is too low.

I think maybe Toyota are getting greedy with the price of new Prii. They're £21,000 here also which is about $34,000 inc 20% sales tax (vat). Maybe it's the exchange rates to the yen?

 

Our Prius is 7 years old. Washed once a week. Only waxed 2x. Yep . . . the shine is gone.



Its funny . . . . what with the Prius outselling most cars in Japan that the hand wringers would come out of the woodwork.

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Thought you were off a factor but perhaps not.

Niche Car Sales And Niche SUV And Truck Sales In Canada - September 2010 - GOOD CAR BAD CAR

Cars are expensive in Canada, but that is common to all of them. Not sure why the Prius is so weak, especially with gas more expensive in Canada than US. The dollar is near par and yet you guys pay more. Thank taxes for that.

MSRP on a Prius in US is $23k and they can indeed be bought for that or maybe a touch less. It's $27,800 in Canada based on the toyota canada website. Are they not available at that price?

 

only time will tell.

 

Yeah, but only like 300 people

 

in our area, they seem to be selling fairly well. i haven't seen jan. numbers and there are still some 10's left on the lot albeit less and less. i'm sure all the recalls have had a negative effect. and honda has presented a bit of competition. i don't think rising gas prices have sunk in yet. the media is not talking about it yet, so, no public frenzy has begun. and i think people have recession 'burn out'. if they havn't been laid off yet, they figure they are not going to be and they are buying the car they want, not the most fuel efficient.

 

I live in Sherbrooke, Quebec where we have a very though Winter with extreme cold and lots of snow. I see Prius on the road all the time and those that do not have it inquire about getting one. Your figure of 95 units sold is not representative.

Toyota just annoneced that they have sold 4 millions vehicles in Canada.
We pay over 1.17$ per litre here and people are looking for eco driving and the Prius is just what is needed. It is my 3rd Prius and I think that with the Prius V and especially the Prius c in 2012, Toyota is going to beat all the competition while the price of gas will be still going to go up. The advent of the electric car will not be a practical solution for our Winters so the Prius are going to continue making headway and surpass the 22,000 units that Canada now have. By the way the cost of a Prius is 27500$ here and the Quebec government provides for a 2,000$ credit when your file you income tax. Be positive and you will see a plus value to drive a Prius down the road.

 

There are regional differences in the US as well, when I visit relatives in Bellingham Washington, Prius, Subarus, and Volvos dominate the roads. Here in the Mississippi Delta there are Ford pickups, and a smattering of other vehicles.

 

Seriously? I drove from a Quebec border with Maine to Niagara Falls, stopping overnight at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and saw 6 Priuses. One was from New Hampshire. Their absence was remarkable.

Mazda 3s on the other hand were all over the bloody place.

 

Madza 3's are a helluva lot more fun to drive!

Some people actually consider that when they plunk down about 25 kilobucks (USD) for a car.
Sorry......I don't mean to piss in anybody's potted palm plant, but I've got 6500 miles in type, over about 4 months. Unlike most folks here, I don't get to drive a Prius.....I've got to drive one! (It's a company car)
The Prius is an order of magnitude better to drive than I thought it would be, (my expectations weren't very high, believe me!) but I still do not know if I want to actually buy one.
The Mazda 3 on the other hand is a joy to drive (comparatively speaking) and it's on my short list of vehicles to replace my 09 Sierra.
Canada, with its already high gas prices is a case study of why I personally do not believe that $4 a gallon gas prices in the US will lead to long lines at the Toyota dealership. Yeah, Prius sales will spike to be sure---making them even more expensive in the process. The falling US dollar isn't going help any.
However (comma!) gas prices will spur even more competition in the econobox (or ecobox) market and some manufacturer, maybe even Toyota, will loft a car that hits that sweet spot between "fun to drive" and "phenomenally good fuel economy"
It's already starting to happen. (example: Elantra)

Has Prius lost its shine?
Probably not, but some folks are always going to think that it's more or less shiny than it really is---as witnessed by the fact that it's not in the top ten autos in either country in terms of sales.

 

A manual transmission mazda 3 is definitely more fun to drive than a Prius. The Prius is ok to drive for me, though, since my other vehicle is a minivan. Although my minivan is faster!

 

Relatively speaking to the US, Prius sells very poorly in Europe too. I think many of the reasons have been mentioned here and there, but I'll group them for convenience while admitting I do not know relative weights:

• Cost
• Diesel competition
• Micro-car competition
• Driving dynamics
• Low Clearance
• Cold climate performance (?perception)
• Conservatism

 

Diesel is cheaper or much cheaper than petrol in most of Europe. A diesel car is not much worse for fuel economy than a Prius (give or take), is known technology and Japanese. Many European countries stick to their own cars (Germany - VW, France Peugeot, Citroen, Italy - Fiat & Spain - Seat) who all produce diesel cars.

In countries where diesel isn't cheaper and/or where many car brands are popular, you will find more hybrids. The UK is Europe's largest Prius market and the new Auris HSD is selling like hot cakes!

Canada has a population of 34 million and sells 2,000 Prius pa.
UK has a population of 60 million and sells about 13,000 Prius pa.
USA has a population of 308 million and sells about 103,000 Prius pa.
Europe Union has a population of 500 million and sells 35,000 Prii (22,000 if you exclude the UK).

Hmmm, what am I trying to prove here? do not know.

Anyone want to work out some facts and percentages on these figures?

 

Really surprised at those Canada numbers especially since Canadians at least would like to think of themselves (some of them anyway!) as anything but gas guzzling Americans. It seems they don't eschew the consumption of fuel as much as some of us would have guessed.

 

California (for example) has 237 people per square mile . . . and that's just ONE STATE. Canada, the entire country, has 9 people per square mile. You're surprised they have less sales? Wadaya expect? I'll bet Montana and/or Alaska have low sales too.

Then, as tideland points out . . . it's not like there are as many people in canada that can klunk down for a new car every 3 or 4 years. Consider also the cab companies laying down 200,000 - 300,000 miles on their prius fleets . . . so present prius owners don't even NEED to go out & buy a new one.

 

What has population per square mile got to do with it? The population of California is slightly bigger than Canadas yet California has masses of Prii.

There again, maybe population mass does have something to do with it? California is heavily populated, as is Japan, the UK and Holland - the Prius is popular in all of them.

 

The more relevant stat are the numbers that grumpycabbie gave, sales per capita, not per square mile. Canada and US have similar overall wealth and the majority (3/4) of the Canadian population lives within a hundred miles of the southern border. And their gas prices are modestly higher.