Toyota receives 120,000 orders for Aqua hybrid in Japan in first month after debut
03 February 2012
Manichi. Toyota received about 120,000 orders for the new Aqua compact hybrid (earlier post) by the end of January—about one month after its debut. The Aqua will sell as the Prius c in other markets such as the US.
The figure was the second-highest level for Toyota, following a record 180,000 orders for the third-generation Prius hybrid unveiled in May 2009.
...The earliest delivery of the vehicle for new orders will be in July since the number of orders has outpaced production capacity. The company is stepping up production to shorten the schedule.
I can see huge sales in the US too.
Posted by: Davemart | 03 February 2012 at 07:14 AM
I guess the media will spin this one month/120,000 hybrid vehicle backlog as another disappointing EV-like sales result.
Posted by: kelly | 03 February 2012 at 07:35 AM
This is a $14,000 Yaris for $19,000 with hybrid drive. I can see it being popular in Japan, but I am not sure about the U.S. The sub compact market may be more price sensitive and the base Yaris already gets good mileage.
The reason they call it Prius c and not Yaris hybrid is the same reason the Echo became the Prius. Honda Civic had the problem where people compare a base model with the hybrid, they do the math and compute the payback, then decide to go with the base model.
Posted by: SJC | 03 February 2012 at 09:07 AM
With gas price closing in on close to $5/gal in late 2012, many will be ready to pay an extra $4K to $5K for reduced fuel consumption and reduced pollution etc. In countries with gas price approaching $8/gal, a more frugal hybrid is a short term acceptable solution.
Posted by: HarveyD | 03 February 2012 at 09:16 AM
I would have thought Prius would have sold well in London years ago with high priced gasoline there, but they did not. There is a cultural element and the Japanese may have a different view than the U.K. or U.S. buyers.
Posted by: SJC | 03 February 2012 at 10:03 AM
The second best (huge) market may be next door in China and neighboring countries, specially where solar panels could be used to supply part of the energy required for the PHEV version..
Posted by: HarveyD | 03 February 2012 at 11:45 AM
I think it would be amazing if developing countries bypassed the whole oil situation all together. Countries around the world with large solar arrays and charge stations charging EVs and going about their business.
Posted by: SJC | 03 February 2012 at 12:14 PM
Great to see it will sell well in Japan.
@Harvey, I am not so sure it will sell well in China, I think they are after flash there rather than greenery.
@SJC, lets hope it sells well in large cities, espec. London - it would be a lot easier to park than a Prius, being shorter.
Japan has gone Hybrid, while Europe has gone diesel for larger cars, and just uses small cars for the low end. In Europe, these really are small (Festiva, Yaris, Polo etc. with small engines (1.0 - 1.3 usually).
Hybrid tends to be very expensive, due to tax, import duties etc (even though they are lower than normal cars).
Diesel rules the mid-high ends with 70% market share. But it is not good in terms of urban air quality, so we should welcome these hybrids.
Posted by: mahonj | 03 February 2012 at 12:57 PM
120,000 orders - one month, one small country, one new hybrid model.
Perhaps US buyers will notice that over 80% of traffic is driver-only, that they can't afford that boat they 'might one day were going to tow', that gas prices have doubled in a matter of weeks before, that small tires cost less than larger tires etc.
With all the "$250,000 tax dollars subsidized each Volt sold" articles, GM's answer is clear.
Price the Volt at under $20,000 and see if it sells.
Even after tens of thousands of Volts sold at 20K, GM would still be ahead. Might even develop the scale to honestly make some money selling hybrids.
Toyota sold their early Prius at a loss and it worked out.
Posted by: kelly | 03 February 2012 at 02:40 PM
I think that they sell every Volt they make at the present price, so I would not expect a price reduction soon. Lutz kept saying Toyota was losing money on every Prius they sold and the hybrids were just a fad. Several years later when they were selling like crazy, GM decided to take a look at a design like the Volt.
GM had the idea in 1999 with the PNGV program car designs. They said that they would be too expensive and no one would buy them. That same year the Prius came out selling in the low 20 thousand range and all GM could say was that Toyota was losing money on every car they sold.
Perhaps GM should have asked themselves how they could make a hybrid for a good price, even if they did not make much on each car sold. They were so used to making large profit margins on trucks and SUVs that it took $4 gasoline and going broke to make them reconsider.
Posted by: SJC | 03 February 2012 at 04:24 PM
Media report reports only 7600 of a 1st year 10,000 Volt sales guess-timate and dealerships not taking their allotments.
That ain't selling every Volt they make at the present price, unless it's another GM EV1-style electric vehicle sales program.
Some say of whoever killed the electric car - an ex-con's an ex-con..
Posted by: kelly | 04 February 2012 at 04:56 AM
Post some supporting links and you might have more credibility. Opinion without supporting factual evidence is just opinion.
Posted by: SJC | 04 February 2012 at 08:15 AM
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57370232-76/chevy-volt-sales-take-a-hit/
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/energy/27547/
http://evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=27289 http://gm-volt.com/2012/01/10/gm-says-it-if-necessary-it-will-cut-volt-production/
..my cred, no problem..
volt allotments
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Posted by: kelly | 04 February 2012 at 10:56 AM
Of course, whoever killed the electric car and such is an unknown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
http://www.ev1.org/ http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=875 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries
Posted by: kelly | 04 February 2012 at 11:08 AM
Your point seems to be if they reduced the price they would sell more. Do you have any evidence to support that?
Posted by: SJC | 04 February 2012 at 02:41 PM
The study of Economics.
Posted by: kelly | 05 February 2012 at 05:02 AM
You need to show us the price/demand curves and where you get that data.
Posted by: SJC | 05 February 2012 at 08:58 AM
IF they make 20,000 units per year and sell them at $20,000 each and LOSE $10,000 per unit, I do not think that their shareholders would be very happy and want them to continue doing that.
Posted by: SJC | 05 February 2012 at 10:02 AM
SJC, if you believe reducing the price of a product does not increase it's unit sales, that's your problem alone.
Posted by: kelly | 06 February 2012 at 09:13 AM