Toyota to continue selling current Prius against Honda Insight hybrid
January 22, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
Toyota and Mercedes-Benz have something in common. If there is a segment, they will build a car and compete. Some manufacturers try and stay to what they know best or what they are good at, but if you want to be number one, as Toyota can claim as of this morning, it requires a car for each and every segment.
This year will see the release of two new mainstream hybrid cars, the Honda Insight hybrid and the new third-generation Toyota Prius. Honda has been clever to make sure the Insight does not go head to head with the Prius. In the U.S. the current Prius costs USD $24,000 and Honda aims to sell the Insight for about USD $20,000.
However, Toyota is not happy about this arrangement as the Big T appears to have missed a segment of the market. The answer? Sell the current generation Prius at the same price as the new Honda Insight.
Sounds like a good idea on paper to at least have a car to compete against the new Insight, but will it work? For a start the current Prius has been around a good five years and will look somewhat outdated put against the sophisticated new Insight.
Toyota believes given the Prius’ brand value and recognition, some buyers may still chose to buy an old Prius compared to the new Honda, but what if some buyers chose to buy the old Prius over the new one?
The current Toyota Prius gets fuel economy figures of 5.1L/100km while the new Prius has improved that to 4.7L/100km.
Honda Australia spokesman Mark Higgins told CarAdvice the new Insight will come to Australia late this year or early 2010 with a starting price lower than the current Civic Hybrid. The Civic Hybrid costs $35,990 in Australia so we expect the Insight to be in the low 30s.
CarAdvice asked Toyota Australia if it will follow the American model and also sell the current generation Prius alongside the new car, at the time of writing we’ve had no response. Check back later in the day as we will update the article with Toyota’s response.
With the cost of petrol coming down significantly, will an improvement of 0.4L/100km be sufficient reason to opt out for the new Prius?
Regardless of whether or not the new Prius and the old Prius can successfully sell alongside each other, it’s clear that Toyota takes the Insight threat very seriously.
Print it: 
“If there is a segment, they will build a car and compete…” Well, can we see some sports cars then Toyota?
That’ll be great for resale values for current prius owners.
Pay $38k for a car that sells in the US for $24k, then have your model slashed in price to position it as a cheaper altenative to the all new one.
And others have slagged Aussie car builders for gutzing their prices, hurting second hand values in the process.
I don’t see your logic JasonP.
The resale prices would have diminished following the release of a new model regardless of whether or not the previous model continues to be sold. If anything I believe that continuing to offer the previous model would sustain 2nd hand vehicle prices.
And as for your point relating to the price of the prius in USA vs Australia, the fact that we pay inflated prices for our cars when compared to the price in USA should not come as a surprise to you nor anyone. Look at the price of any car that is sold in both the USA and Australia and you will see a pattern. And that pattern is certainly not confined to any single auto manufacturer.
2 of the UGLIEST MOFO CARS ON THE ROAD TODAY…
Bloody hybrids are going to ruin the enjoyment of just driving a car….the days of car driving for pure pleasure are very numbered…sad sad sad….
RoFlmaTiC,
You reckon?
Don’t you think that if you paid say $24000 for the prius you bought today, that being able to buy the exact same car in a couple of months time for $20000, would harm your resale?
Surely if you were selling in say a years time, that a buyer would rather pay just a little extra for a brand new one (of the old model), rather than yours with a years worth of mileage on it?
Yes the new model would diminish the prices of the old model, but by still selling the old model at a new price thousands cheaper than it was, means your 2nd hand one would have to be worth even less.
True what you say re the price difference from US to Oz.
My own favourite car sell for much less over there than here. It sucks & it’s wrong, but cas sell for what the market will bear.
It’s agrovating to see vehicles sell for much less in the US compared to Down Under, especially when the AUD was nearly on-par with the USD and a G8 retailed for less than a base Commodore here.
Agrovating yes, but a rip-off. Not always. Automakers are able to shift a much larger number of vehicles, giving them better economies of scale and the ability to reduce production costs. In addition to that, Australian imports are taxed fairly highly, especially luxury vehicles (thanks mr. rudd).
I still believe we were bieng gouged with the Commodore though, especially when they announced $29, 990 drive away pricing towards the end of last year and they sell more here than in the US.
Nick,
Not really Uncle Kevs’ fault re the import taxes etc.
in fact part of the reason his Gov’t is providing assistance to the Aussie Car Industry, is because they are still going to drop the import duty to 5% in (I think) 2010.
Australia has one of the lowest rates of import duty on cars, in the Western World, the reasoning is that it forces our local manufacturers to be more competitive.
Ah you’ve got a good point there JasonP. I was just thinking of it from the perspective of “current model” cars that you can still purchase having a higher resale generally than superceded models.
Its a concept thats no different to what Holden did when they released the AH series Astra a couple of years ago… they kept selling the old TS Astra along side it and tacked on a “classic” badge and sold it for less than the new one. Or even what Nissan is doing at the moment with the D22 Navara. Cheaper or not they still look dated compared to the new model.
love the VP commodore rear quarter styling on the “old Prius” not!
Bring back the Corona at least they were rear wheel drive although pretty hard to keep on the road.LOL.
Actually they would probably canabalise sales from the Camry.LOL
Has anybody noticed the rise in Prado rage lately?
You know a wanker in the latest shape Prado attempting to run over everything in front of them.
What the heck? Now it’s $35,990 for the Civic hybrid??????????
That’s a 10% increase in price over the past month! Used to be $32,990… and even less before then!!! DAMN YOU HONDA.
I forgot to add, no wonder they can offer the new insight at a lower price than the civic.. just offer at the old civic’s price!
Is the Toyota reality-distortion field so strong that they think people would rather buy a prius than the new Honda insight? Wouldn’t surprise me, I still can’t work out how Toyota confuses 2000 people a month into buying a Camry.
Mike says; “If there is a segment, they will build a car and compete…” Well, can we see some sports cars then Toyota?
Spitfire says; Sports Cars and Toyota are mutually exclusive.
What’s the real reason beind this. Probably something to do with a yard of old unsold Prius’s lurking toward battery failure and the fact Honda have hoodwinked them.
Loooosers!!!
Cupid Stunt,
Apparently sales of the current Prius have almost halved in the US, since fuel prices went down, & toyota has mothballed building a new Prius factory in the US.
Seems they will have quite a few of the old model available for sale after the new one lobs.
Would like to see them in the flesh, but I reckon the new Prius looks better than the new Insight, & certainly hugely more stylish than the current Prius.
I’ve read where aero plays a large part in the styling of these 3 Hybrids, however that doesn’t translate to the Civic or Camry Hybrids.
The Civic seems to have flush alloy wheels though.
Hybrids will really takeoff when they are fully viable for mainstream sedans, wagons, & vans, rather than just similar looking 5 door hatches.
I’d be happy to drive a hybrid, but I don’t need to advertise it.
I emailed Honda who said they do not intend on bringing the Insight into the Australian line up. This goes against all the media hype about it coming to Oz and being a major competitor for the Prius