Prius sales pass 1 million unit mark (since 1997)

[DainBramaged]

Cumulative sales of the Toyota Prius hybrid car just passed the 1 million unit mark. But growth is on course to be slowest in the car's biggest market, North America.

Dealers there moved 66,100 of the vehicles from January through April. At that pace, Toyota will have sold some 198,300 by year end, up 7.9 percent from 2007.

Sales in Japan and Europe are climbing from a smaller base but at a faster rate.

The figures were released today, when Toyota announced that cumulative sales since the car's 1997 launch reached 1.028 million units at the end of April.

In Japan, the car's No. 2 market, Prius sales reached 24,200 in the first four months. On an annual basis, that would generate a 24.5 percent volume increase over last year.

Europeans bought 14,200, a pace poised to deliver a 32.3 percent annual increase.

Over the past decade, Toyota estimates its 1 million Prius vehicles have cut global carbon dioxide emissions by 4.5 million tons, compared with conventional gasoline-powered cars.

Toyota says it aims to sell 1 million hybrids a year by the early 2010s.

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/ANA05/578872279/1186 (subscription only)


On second thought, it's sad the sales are still so low. One day everyone will "get it", but it may be too late to jump on the hybrid bandwagon, it could have a flat tire.

[Taverner]

1. Damn fine car too!

Can't wait to see what they do with the Sienna!

[DainBramaged]

2. Buy our Volt, electric avenue!

[Kolesar]

3. What is the city/highway fuel economy for the Prius?

The article requires registration, so I did not read it.

[DainBramaged]

5. I posted the entire article (because it is subscription only and I pay for it)

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

[Kolesar]

8. 45 highway / 48 city

thanks

[Dover]

4. Question about the Prius battery

A woman friend and I were just having a discussion about gas prices and we talked about which
car we were going to get next. I told her I thought, perhaps, a Prius. She told me not to get one yet because the company told her the batteries were only guaranteed for three years. I had never heard that before in any of the discussions here or elsewhere and am really surprised. But this friend is a stickler when it comes to doing her homework prior to purchase and says the company told her that.

So is this true?

[DainBramaged]

6. I think they are guaranteed for 8 year, 100k mile

[Massacure]

9. I remember reading that there are Prius taxis that have are up to 200,000 miles

And that they haven't had any significant problems with the batteries.

Actually, here is the article:

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-batteries-none-the-worse-for-wear-cga.htm

[lectrobyte]

11. Was the company that told her that GM? It sure wasn't Toyota.

There is a small 12V battery that's used for booting up the car and providing standby power to the radio to remember station settings etc., which is covered for 3 years, just like any other car battery, if you need a new one, get it replaced. The hybrid system, including the battery pack, is covered for 8 years/100,000 miles.

[diane in sf]

7. I'm waiting on the plug-in version for a decent price.

[NNadir]

10. Why am I not surprised?

I'll bet you're "waiting" for solar PV prices to come down too.

[tanstaafl]

12. Prius is nice, but kind of small for my tastes ...

I would prefer something larger to handle my size and family, etc. Stil ... it is a cool vehicle.