Toyota Says New Prius Plug-in Hybrid will Cost Under £31,000 in Britain

After Toyota‘s U.S. arm came out with pricing details on the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid, the firm’s British division is next in line to inform buyers what they’re going to pay for the car when it goes on sale in Britain in the first half of 2012.

However, instead of giving a exact price tag, Toyota UK said the plug-in version of the Prius will “cost less than £31,000″ before any government incentives, which can reduce the price to customer by up to £5,000, or under £26,000.

Toyota says that while official consumption numbers are still pending, it predicts the Prius Plug-in Hybrid will emit 49g/km of carbon dioxide and achieve 134.5mpg UK (equal to 112mpg US or 2.1lt/100km) combined cycle fuel economy (apparently when working in both pure electric and hybrid modes).

Ewan Shepherd, General Manager Toyota/Lexus Fleet Services commented: “Prius Plug-in Hybrid will be an exciting and valuable addition to what is already an industry-leading Toyota range that delivers significant financial benefits to companies and company car drivers with advanced and highly efficient models such as Prius and the British-built Auris Hybrid.”

Toyota added that it has entered a partnership with LeasePlan to support a corporate sales programme for Prius Plug-in Hybrid not only in the UK but also across the rest of Europe.

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New High-Occupancy-Vehicle Lane Rules May Boost Prius Plug-In Sales in California

The new Prius plug-in will be available in the US early next year and will cost $32,780 –or $8,500 more than the non-plug-in version of Toyota’s hybrid. That’s quite a remarkable price difference even if you include the $2,500 tax incentive and, for some, a deterrent in buying the plug-in hybrid.

However, as it turns out though, the State of California may have unintentionally helped Toyota sell more of its new plug-in hybrid model. That’s because two months ago, it changed the rules for High-Occupancy-Vehicle (H.O.V.) lanes, and specifically which single-passenger occupied models were allowed to use them.

Under the new rules, all-electric cars and trucks, plus hydrogen fuel cell and natural gas vehicles are eligible. The regular Prius, which was previously a member of this short list, has now been excluded.

This is where the Prius plug-in steps in. California authorities have classified it as an EAT-PZEV, which stands for Enhanced Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emission Vehicle, partially thanks to Toyota‘s decision to offer Californians a longer-term warranty for the car‘s lithium-ion batteries – 10-years, 150,000-mile instead of 8-year, 100,000 miles offered in other states.

Therefore, despite the price difference, many Prius customers in California may consider the extra cost a reasonable price to pay for avoiding traffic jams.

The next model to follow suit is the Volt, which is excluded from H.O.V. lanes due to its 8-year warranty. General Motors though will offer a 10-year, 150,000-mile warranty on Chevy’s extended range hybrid from 2012 in order to earn an EAT-PZEV rating as well.

Story source: NY Times

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Toyota Retools Old Assembly Machines to Lower 2012 Camry’s Manufacturing Costs

Toyota Camry Appears in Different Form in Ukraine [High-Res Gallery]” href=”http://bestautoreviews.info/articles/2012-toyota-camry-appears-in-different-form-in-ukraine-high-res-gallery.html”>Toyota is the company that applied the (since copied by everyone) kaizen philosophy in car manufacturing to improve both on quality and efficiency. Now it has done something different: instead of installing new robots on the new Camry assembly line in Kentucky, it retooled the old units from its former plant in California.
The decision played an important role in Toyota‘s successful attempt to reduce the new 2012 Camry’s price by 2% compared to its predecessor.
“A lot of the tooling is new, however the equipment isn’t”, said Toyota’s executive vice president for manufacturing and engineering in North America. “We used a lot of equipment from the now-closed New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (Nummi) plant” he added.
Nummi was a joint venture in California between Toyota and General Motors that went belly-up when the latter went bankrupt to emerge as the New GM. Nummi is now owned by Tesla, which will use it to manufacture the Model S.
Despite Camry retaining the number one spot in US sales so far this year, its sales have decreased by 7% compared to 2010.
Toyota’s mid-size saloon is also feeling the heat from competitors: over the same period, sales of two of its direct competitors, the Hyundai Sonata and the Ford Fusion, have increased by 22% and 16% respectively.
Story source: Bloomberg

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