Toyota Plots Comeback for Prius After Tesla Takes Spotlight

Also, it appears that Toyota Prius is outselling the entire list of KBB top 10 green cars for 2015

 

A little Machiavellian, perhaps the Mirai is a clever security technique . . . "Don't say anything about the next Prius but you can talk about the Mirai."

Starting to enter the realm of 'Black Helicopters' . . . The Mirai is just the Prius Gen 4 with an experimental FCV drive train. Hidden in plain sight, pre-production Prius Gen 4s are already in field tests looking exactly like the Mirai.

Bob Wilson

ps. Posted while waiting for 'Godot'.

 

For my taste, not the most appealing body style

 

oh bob, say it ain't so!

 

It also easily out sold the Camry hybrid. Which doesn't say anything good about the public's general acceptance of hybrids, considering the entire Camry line up sold well over 400k last year.

 

agreed. you can pick up a well equipped camry for under 20k, it's a big stretch to the hycam. as we know, public acceptance after 15 years is extremely low. most people just don't care and won't until they have to.

the great experiment didn't work. but that's the point of experimenting, isn't it?

 

The "have to" part is guaranteed to happen. Like hurricane landings, timing is random but eventual arrival is assured.

 

agreed, but who wants to wait until tragedy strikes?

 

I wouldn't say the experiment didn't work as much as the manufacturers were unable to take the risk to really get hybrids out there.

Let's take a look at the Lincoln MKZ. No where near a big seller, but around 40% of its sales were for the hybrid. The other midsize sedan hybrids get maybe 10% of the model's sales. The MKZ manages a higher take rate by having the hybrid priced the same as the base 2L Ecoboost, which also provides a slightly bigger fuel economy gap between the ICE and hybrid.

The manufacturers can't completely drop the sales tease trim from their non-luxury sedans, but they could take steps to narrow the price gap between it and the hybrid that potential buyers and journalists first make a note of. Ford could drop the 2.5L base engine, and making the the 1.6 Ecoboost standard. That would probably cut the $3000 difference between the Fusion S and hybrid SE by a grand.

Large sedans aren't big sellers in Japan, but Toyota didn't seem to lose much in sales going to just offering a hybrid for the Camry there.

 

saying the same thing in a different way? maybe not, but part of the gamble had to be based on projected oil prices. now, maybe they weren't thinking 20 years, but 50.

 

Was it really a gamble? Doesn't the discussion need to take CAFE standards and rules into account? Our discussions may leave it out but the automakers have to factor it in.

 

As you said, "most people".

 

absolutely. i'm just thinking of the videos of the engineers planning 'the vehicle for the next century'. but, i guess you could say the same about the mirai.

 

yup.