The Toyota Prius has more than doubled its previous monthly sales record selling 538 units across the UK for the month of February.
The previous record of 237 units, was set back in February of 2008.
The third generation Toyota Prius is on the short list for this year’s The World Car of the Year and has been Japan’s best selling car for nine consecutive months (May 2009 to January 2010).
Since the first generation Toyota Prius was launched in 1997, more than 1.6 million units have been sold worldwide.
In relative terms, the Prius starts at $32K in the UK (19K GBP). The single-biggest barrier-to-entry here.
Not really, a 19K GBP car to someone in the UK is the same as a $40K car to someone in oz. Your purchases are controlled by your income, not the exchange rate. When I last looked the average salary in the UK was about 28K GBP, where in oz the Age reported it was about $57K AUD. Then consider the price of fuel. UK its 1.09p ($1.75AUD), which is the real reason this car is doing well in the UK.
You must be joking….how stupid people are still!
Did you hear the media this morning another Prius Catapulting down the highway in excess of 140km/h! the only savour for the elderly gentleman driving the car was to be stopped by a high speed flat bed tow truck!
And the car had already been into toyota for a recall!
how silly people are!
Yeah the USA cop was with the guy on the highway. Said he could see the guy standing on the brakes. When they finally stopped the trooper said he could smell the brakes.
Another PR tragedy that will be forgotten by the mindless masses.
You must be joking how studid are people who dont buy these! Another great toyota product and it will win the world car of the year! And by the way “stuart” another made up story by an american to get a payout from toyota, americans love getting payouts ask ford & gm!
the sales are accelerating out of control!!
Is it time for the… runout sale ?
I wouldn’t consider a hybrid car over diesel anytime unless price is a lot cheaper. Diesel cars not only can save as much as hybrids but also give driving pleasure. Also, when the hybrid battery is broken, you should pay shocking money to fix it. However, I may consider LGP hybrid cuz it will be really cheap to run and we have plenty of LGP here.
There might be plenty of lpg here but the goverment is more interested in selling it to china than selling it cheaply to us and using it as an alternative fuel. I also thought that the price of it was going up to around the price of unleaded in the next year or two? not to sure on that one.
The lack of an available manual transmission is probably the one thing that is preventing the Prius from selling well in the UK. It’s also interesting that you can get optional LED headlights (!!!) on the Prius in the UK. I think there is only one car on the Australian market that has them at the moment (Audi A8 will also have them but it’s not on sale yet).
those sales figures are but a teardrop in the ocean for the u.k.diesel rules supreme…
Just look at Clarkson’s opinion of Americans and you will understand why ~
Suicidal Poms??? (Joke people Joke)
Video: Toyota demonstrates safe hybrid vehicle stopping techniques
03/12/2010, By Mark Kleis
http://www.leftlanenews.com/vi.....iques.html
Toyota now has produced a high quality video that clearly demonstrates how to stop any Toyota hybrid vehicle in the event of unintended acceleration, following their distribution of a low budget video, apparently created by a Toyota car salesman earlier this week.
This new video demonstrates how a Toyota hybrid – any model – should function under normal conditions if the vehicle is accelerating out of control.
This video demonstrates that the recent incident in San Diego was either the result of abnormal function of the vehicle’s computer, or complete operator error on the part of the driver, James Sikes.
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Haven’t found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying
http://www.latimes.com/news/op.....5172.story
David M. Cummings, executive vice president of the Santa Barbara-based Kelly Technology Group, spent nine years as a consultant for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft.
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Washington Post
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....tml?sub=AR
Playing the blame game with runaway Toyotas
Thursday, March 11, 2010 A20
Frank Ahrens quotes an auto industry consultant who claims the problem with runaway Toyotas almost always lies with drivers who step on the wrong pedal ["Why it's so hard for Toyota to find out what's wrong," Sunday Business, March 7]. I find this assertion infuriating. I know exactly where my foot was on the two occasions that my 2004 Prius accelerated out of control on the Beltway last year — firmly on the brake until the accelerator popped back up from its unnaturally depressed position. The dealership blamed “floor mats,” but I was using small carpet squares that didn’t reach the pedal.
The condescending assumption that drivers don’t know what they are talking about when they report problems like this is why I must now mentally rehearse how to put my car into neutral every time I venture out on the highway.