New Toyota Prius production nears full capacity
June 10, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
A new Toyota Prius is put together in 66 seconds on Line No 1 and in 57 seconds on Line No 2 of Toyota’s Tsutsumi plan in Japan, even at that rate, it’s still not enough.
Toyota says that its Japanese factories making the third-generation Prius are reaching full capacity just to fulfil the orders for the car in Japan alone.
In total four lines at the Tsutsumi plant a factory belonging to affiliate Toyota Auto Body Company, produce 50,000 cars a month, twice as many as Toyota’s original sales target.
The Big T says it has brought back overtime and is even bringing in workers from other factories to boost output.
Toyota needs to produce at least 140,000 of the new hybrid cars to satisfy the Japanese market. Last month the Prius outsold every vehicle in Japan, except the 660cc segment, with 10,915 sales, beating rival Honda Insight by 2732 units. Demand for the new Prius in Australia is still uncertain.
While many of us believe the Prius is the right car for the right time and an excellent marketing exercise by Toyota, it still remains to be seen if it’s green credentials live up to the claims over time.
Similar diesel cars (e.g. the Mini Cooper D) not only use less fuel but have comparable CO2 outputs making the high demand and the attention on the Prius a rather complex story.
At the moment Toyota has not began speculating as to what numbers other markets will require.
Tags: Toyota Prius
Wow another prius story. Averaging one a day now.
There are plenty of other stories to write about.
eg. Mazda Ranks Highest in New-Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction in Australia for the second year in a row
hard to put a dampener on this story,the whole reason for being in business is to sell units
Car Advice writes:
“A new Toyota Prius is built in 66 seconds on Line No.1 and in 57 seconds on Line No. 2 of Toyota’s Tsutsumi plan in Japan”
Shouldn’t that be completed every 66 seconds or 57 seconds? If they built a car in just 66/57 seconds, don’t you think the build quality would be a bit off-par?
@ VW Freak, putting a car together in that time is standard for a lot of factories, the difference is Toyota probably spends a lot of time after the car is built doing quality check/tests.
So many errors in this story.
Anyone proof reading?
Also… To say that one moment a bare Chassis joins a production line and 57 seconds later it is a finished car driving out of the factory is utterly ridiculous.
No doubt what you mean is, “Every 57 seconds a car rolls off the production line”. Say what you mean for goodness sake.
You’re thinking of a car built from scratch to finish in 57 seconds. It is not the case here. A production line is like a waterfall. It continuously flows from the start to finish. It may take hours for a car from the beginning of the line to reach the end of the line. I’m sure you have seen a car production line on TV, try to remember and it will be easier to understand.
Try an over simple calculation. :D They produce 50000 cars a month, working 24hrs a day, everyday of the week. If you work it out, Toyota produces roughly 1 Prius/minute. Reality is not that simple like this calculation, but you’ll get the idea :D
What the hell is with everyone comparing the Prius and other hybrids to tiny Diesels like the Mini and little VW Golfs and Polo’s. The Prius is a big car, almost the size of a Camry, those other s*#t boxes are like shopping carts, and that’s all they’re good for. Lets see the stupid editor of this story try and fit 5 people, a dog and some luggage into a Mini Cooper comfortably, It’s just not possible.
Yes Delta, We all know how a production line works. The big difference here I think is that whilst Toyota says “We build a Prius every 66 seconds”, the author of this article has taken it upon themselves to word it, “a new Toyota Prius is put together in 66 seconds”. Which as I’m sure you can imagine, is QUITE RIDICULOUS!
Nathan,
Have you sat in a Pruis? It is not the size of a Camry. One car every 60 seconds sounds about right for most car manufactures but the story says the significant part of that is those lines are just for Japan.
Whichever way you look at it – there’s a Prius produced every minute. Ant to think Toyota was in trouble not long ago.
Nathan
Prius is NOT a big car. It’s much closer in size to a Corolla than a Camry (which shares it’s body with the Aurion).
I’d love to see 5 people, a dog and some luggage in a Prius, none of ‘em would make it out alive!
Mini diesel would be my choice…
Sam-R Whichever way you look at it – there’s a Prius produced every minute.True,also theres a fool born every minute was well,Thats why they ramped up production,to match the fool birth rate.
If Toyota(or any company) were serious they would develope and fit a geet fuel processor,put one on a prius and you would get fuel economy of around 1.8L/100km,60% better fuel economy,fit one to a GT and you would probobly get around 5.8L/100km.Thats REAL green econotech,not this gimmickie thing or any hybrid for that matter.
CA….please pass on this recall to the bogans.so these bogans can go and fix their dinosaurs instead of trying to ruin TOYOTA’s article again.THANK YOU CA.Ford’s battered reputation has taken another hit with the company recalling 20,864 LPG cars.
The recall involves all BF Series II and III and the new FG Falcon sedan, wagon and utility fitted with the factory-fitted LPG system, called E-Gas, which are popular with fleets and tradies.
The cars affected were built from January 16, 2007 to August 22, 2008.
The defect involves the brake booster check valve, which may develop a vacuum leak.
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Ford spokesman, Justin Lacy, said the valve can develop a leak, leading to reduced power assistance for the brakes.
Details of the latest recall surfaced on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s website last Friday, ahead of the holiday weekend but have, until now, slipped under the radar.
Worried owners should contact their local Ford dealer or Ford’s customer relations line on 1800 503 672.
In recent months Ford has been hit with a range of glitches that are damaging its hard-fought reputation.
In March it was forced to recall 83,000 SX and SY Territorys to replace front brake hoses after widespread consumer reports of brake failures.
The Herald Sun’s Carsguide has uncovered a raft of quality problems at Broadmeadows after months of consumer complaints covering everything from brakes to rust and paint.
The most recent concerns relate to front balljoint failures on high-mileage Territorys.
In addition, Ford last month recalled its Focus and Mondeos to check problem with brake vacuum pumps.
The recall for the LV Focus and MA Mondeo, built since last year, only affects those with a diesel engine.
Ford says under certain conditions the supply of vacuum to the brake booster may be reduced causing a hard brake pedal and increase stopping distances.
Ford is contacting known owners by mail.
In March, Ford recalled more than 83,000 Territorys to fix a brake hose defect which was uncovered by Carsguide after complaints from readers.
Soon – does your tutu match in color as well???
Toyota recalls 1.4 million cars
by Candace Lombardi Font size Print E-mail Share 15 comments Yahoo! Buzz
Yaris seat belts may be flammable in a collision.
(Credit: Toyota Motor)Toyota Motor plans to recall 1.4 million cars throughout the world for minor defects.
About 830,000 cars in Europe, North America, and other regions are being recalled, and another 536,000 in Japan. The defective models include the Yaris (called the Vitz in Japan), Belta, and Ractis models built between January 2005 and April 2008.
The recall concerns the tensioner on seat belts that may melt or catch fire in some collision situations. On some models, there’s also concern that the exhaust pipe will crack under extreme heat.
An official safety recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S. will include about 134,900 Yaris vehicles, according to Toyota.
The recall is more bad news for Toyota.
Despite surpassing General Motors as the world’s top-selling automaker and winning market share in past years with its energy-saving Prius, the Japanese company has been bumping up against bad press for a series of recalls.
Earlier this month, Toyota recalled over 200,000 Lexus 2006-2008 models to replace fuel pipes that were corroding when used with certain types of ethanol fuels. In April 2008, the company recalled 540,000 Corolla and Matrix 2003-2004 models in the U.S. over concerns that power windows were separating from their door’s control frames due to loosening bolts.
On Wednesday, Toyota also reported the company’s first overseas production decrease in 17 years, which the company attributed to decreased production mainly in North America and Europe.
Toyota announced decreased sales and production for all its markets and sectors on Wednesday except for one. The company’s Daihatsu Motor subsidiary saw its second year of production increase, which Toyota attributed to interest from the Indonesian market.
recalls are a common occurence. Even Merc had one for the last S-class a couple of years ago, and that was in germany.
BTW the prius is a corolla sized car and not the camry sized.
yes…only 2 cars out of 1.4 millions yaris were affected and TOYOTA quick enough to recalled it.it showed TOYOTA is concerned for customers.unlike your dinosaurs tried to turn blind eyes on innocent customers, how funny that was when dinosaur said…you can still drive your car with rear brake failure…because front brakes still work.see?only dinosaurs can get away with that.not even strong enough to recall just to save the face.WELCOME TO TOYOTA WORLD.
soon Says:
June 10th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
You ruined the article yourself with that post buddy.
Why incite a flame war?
Soon, have you been whacking off in your Corolla again?
What’s your favourite colour cardigan BTW?
The current Prius’ is just awful and I doubt the new one will be any better. Put your foot down whilst climbing a hill on the freeway and the little petrol engine sounds like a Korean Diesel with +200k’s on the clock.
And the interior; it’s just revolting! The fabric lined door armrest’s are so hard and uncomfortable. And the rear vision is terrible with what my Mum call’s the “handbag rack” cutting through the glass.
I’d take one of the VW/Audi diesel’s any day… More than enough room in the boot to swallow a Prius, and ample torque to haul ass up a hill at freeway speeds.
Removed
I am going to close this thread. I will be adding a few bloggers to the ban list if this type of behavior continues.