Toyota will sell Prius hybrid here by 2000
Toyota Motor Corp will be marketing the Prius model in the US by the year 2000. The automobile is an electric hybrid sedan designed to meet the Low Emissions Vehicle standards of California. Toyota believes that the model will gain wide acceptance among motorists due to its affordability and extended range. Moreover, environmental sentiment among consumers have increased after the holding of an international conference on global warming in Kyoto, Japan.
Toyota Motor Corp., eager to display its "green" credentials, plans to sell the Prius electric hybrid sedan in the United States no later than 2000.
Last week, the automaker confirmed that the U.S. market will get small numbers of the car, which last week went on sale in Japan with a $16,525 price tag.
"We'll start small-volume, pilot marketing as early as possible, and before the end of the century," said Jane Beseda, manager of strategic planning for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
To generate interest, Toyota will display the Prius at next year's Los Angeles, Chicago and New York auto shows
TARGETS: CALIFORNIA, NE
The most likely markets will be California and the Northeast, where environmental sentiment is relatively strong, Beseda said.
To increase the Prius' appeal for American motorists, Toyota will make some minor changes, such as beefing up its air conditioning trait.
Coming on the heels of the international conference on global warming in Kyoto, Japan, a U.S. version of the Prius seems certain to generate a buzz. Although each of the Big 3 is tinkering with hybrids, no other automaker is selling them.
Moreover, with its relatively low cost and extended range, the Prius could gain consumer acceptance more quickly than conventional electric cars. The vehicle carries an electric motor that can be powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries or a 1.5-liter gasoline engine.
Depending on the need for acceleration, the car can run on the batteries only, the engine only, or both simultaneously.
The Prius will meet California's Low Emissions Vehicle standards, according to Toyota.
Toyota in Japan only began to assemble the Prius on Wednesday, Dec. 10, although it started taking orders on that day. The first cars are expected to start trickling into showrooms later this week, with volume sales unlikely to crank up until sometime in January.
Toyota spokesman Keith Truelove could not cite another case where Toyota had put a new car on sale without having any in showrooms.
Toyota reaped enormous publicity when it unveiled the Prius on Oct. 14, about a week before the Tokyo Motor Show opened.
Truelove said that at the time of the October launch, Toyota knew that production would only start on Dec. 10. Press materials at the time gave Dec. 10 as the first day of sales.
GOOD PUBLICITY
The early launch gave Toyota bragging rights as the world's first carmaker to bring a production-version hybrid car to market. Publicity-conscious Toyota also set the start of sales to coincide with the close of the Kyoto conference.
In a move that hints at the car's limitations, however, Toyota is skipping what might have been another opportunity to showcase the Prius.
As a Gold Sponsor of the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics, Toyota will supply about 60 vehicles for use at the Games. It also held a test drive of hand-built Prius models for reporters in the town where the downhill skiing and ski-jump competitions will be held, and offered pictures of the car with the Nagano Olympics logo on a building in the background.
Toyota will not, however, supply any Prius models for use at the Games. One reason: Cold weather is not good for the car's electric batteries.
Automotive News
December 15, 1997
Sedgwick, David; Treece, James B.