Prius sales more than doubled as Toyota extended the name to a four-model “family” of vehicles at the same time that rebates and tax breaks in Japan are saving buyers the equivalent of $2,500 or more. In the quarter, sales soared to 247,230, trailing only Toyota’s Corolla, at 300,800, and Ford’s 277,000 Focus sales.
The Prius surge, after two years of recalls and production disruptions, propelled the Japan-based automaker back into the global sales lead for the first three months of the year. The hybrid line also gives the Toyota brand three of the top 10 models in the United States so far this year, including its mid-size Camry.
“It proves Prius wasn’t a fluke, that there’s a long-term market for hybrids,” said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, an automotive consultancy in Orange, Calif.
In the aftermath of last year’s earthquake and tsunami that cut parts and auto production for Japanese carmakers, the government in December began encouraging purchases of fuel-efficient autos to reverse sagging domestic deliveries.
Rebates of as much as 100,000 yen ($1,258) are available from a 300 billion yen fund for qualified cars, including the Prius hatchback, wagon, plug-in and Aqua subcompact, sold in the United States and elsewhere as the Prius c. Tax savings further reduce the purchase price by another 100,000 yen or more. The average price for a Prius in Japan is about 2.5 million yen and around $25,000 in the United States.
Aqua has become the car of the moment in Japan, helping more than triple Prius family sales in the country to 175,080 in the first quarter, from 52,507 last year. While funds for the rebates may run out in July if the government doesn’t extend them, the tax reductions continue through 2015.
“It was good that introduction of Aqua and the start of government subsidies happened almost at the same time,” said Koichi Sugimoto, senior analyst at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. He added that there’s more to the success than the government incentives. “Toyota is introducing good vehicles and assuming it will maintain a certain volume even after the subsidies end,” he said.
The Prius line topped other high-volume car models including Hyundai’s Elantra, Volkswagen’s Golf, Ford’s Fiesta, General Motors’ Cruze and Honda’s Civic, according to the companies.
Toyota ranked as the world’s largest automaker by sales from 2008 to 2010, before the natural disasters pared its global production and deliveries.
Sales of Toyota, Lexus, Scion, Hino and Daihatsu vehicles grew 18 per cent to 2.49 million in the quarter, Toyota said in a U.S. regulatory filing this month. That put it ahead of Detroit-based GM’s 2.28 million and VW’s 2.16 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief executive officer Akio Toyoda has said the company founded by his grandfather is “turning the corner” after a couple of difficult years. The company endured record recalls in 2010 in the United States its biggest single market, for floor-mat and gas-pedal flaws.
“You are seeing a company that is clearly coming back,” said Efraim Levy, equity analyst with Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ in New York. “For Prius to sell in that kind of volume, something that’s been a niche product, it’s an achievement.”
Since the start of Prius sales in Japan in 1997, Toyota has sold four million hybrid-electric vehicles worldwide, including 1.5 million in the United States, the company said May 22.
In the United States, typically Toyota’s top market for Prius, sales jumped 42 per cent in the first quarter, and 56 per cent through April to a record 86,027.
U.S. sales of the model since its 2000 introduction, including the new variations, total 1.18 million vehicles, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Global sales increased 125 per cent.
Prius sets a standard of success for alternatively powered cars, including Nissan’s all-electric Leaf and GM’s Chevrolet Volt, which has an on-board gas-burning generator to extend the range of the electric-drive car.
The sales pace for Prius isn’t likely to be matched soon by any other hybrid models, said John Wolkonowicz, an independent analyst in Boston who specializes in automotive history.
“It’s the phenomenon we saw with Chrysler and minivans: It brought out the first minivan and after all these years, Chrysler still is minivan sales leader,” he said. “Prius was the first hybrid on the block.”
Peace Arch Toyota is having a record month for "Prius Family sales". Camry Hybrid and Tacoma sales are a close second.
Bloomberg news
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