Toyota, which has dominated the market for gasoline-electric cars so far, is looking to take back the crown after Honda’s new Insight became the first hybrid ever to top the best-sellers’ list in Japan last month…
Introducing the third-generation Prius, Executive Vice President Akio Toyoda said the upgraded model…costs about $3,000 less than the previous version…
Although gasoline prices have nearly halved since peaking last July, automakers expect growing interest in the fuel-saving technology with consumers continuing to trade in big SUVs in favor of small cars, even in the United States…
The new Prius will start at $21,620, or at least 300,000 yen less than what executives had originally said the car would cost.
With an eye on competing with the Insight, Toyota will also take the unprecedented move of…selling the entry-level grade of the previous Prius in Japan at the same price as the Insight’s $19,190.
The about-face came after Honda’s Insight became an instant hit after going on sale in Japan in early February. Honda sold nearly 10,500 Insights in April, more than double its target of 5,000 units a month.
Competition is good. Competition is fun. It ain’t going to be a bed of roses for management-types; but, it should help out us ordinary garden-variety consumers.
Hopefully we’ll see better prices as well…
THe big problem comparing pricing is that Toyota specs their cars much differently than Honda. Toyota typically offers tons of options/packages where as Honda usually has very few from the factory configured cars (typically with nav or no nav). SO comparing cars is hard to do as the base Prius won’t be carried by many Toyota dealerships and thus the Prius with all the bells and whistles as people want to have will be much more expensive than an Insight.
Not much of a war. Honda’s is not as good as the civic, let alone the new prius.
Honda Insight: 40/43/41
Honda Civic Hybrid: 40/45/42
Toyota Prius: 51/48/50
That was easy … for me at least.
I’m waiting for the plug-in Prius. I think it is due in the second half of 2010.
“hybrids” are heavy, slow, not so fuel efficient (see small European cars to compare) and using batteries(!) which manufacturing has devastating effects on environment.
Decision is truly easy.
#5 – MPL,
Just show me all of the other 50 MPG options on the U.S. market. I’d love other options. Perhaps a purely electric prius would be much better. Or, a purely gasoline one. But, we don’t have those options. So, we take the best we can get. Gasoline is horrifically devastating on the environment as well.
http://tinyurl.com/3ckvvk
http://tinyurl.com/cbn5ub
#3 – Misanthropic Scott
And add to that the Prius has a 1.5 liter engine, whereas the Civic has a 1.3 liter.
#4 – dwight david diddlehopper – I’m waiting for the plug-in Prius.
Same here…
#7 – Jägermeister,
Those are the numbers for the new prius. The engine is 1.8L. They found they got higher mileage from a slightly larger engine, counterintuitively, because the engine can spin more slowly. I’m sure this rule doesn’t hold for all engine sizes and weights. There must always be a sweet spot.
I’m not waiting for the plug-in. I’m waiting for my 1992 camry to die. No reason to waste a good car; that would be worse for the environment. I don’t know how much life it still has left. It still shakes rattles and rolls at 120K+ miles.
#8. Correct, 1.8 liter four valve four cylinder engines have wonderful gas flow dynamics, lower mechanical stress than 1.6 liter and better thermodynamics than 2 liter. They seem to be patterned on re-stroked, rebored or undersquared 1.6 liter engines, so they could also be a bit lighter.
Why do I think there will be no such war in the US markets? Especially with dealerships closing down, rather than stocking the kind of cars the consumers want. If they couldn’t sell SUVs and huge trucks, the US automakers would rather starve out the market, and declare bankruptcy? The Japanese automakers aren’t getting this protection from failure, while overproducing gas guzzlers. But then they don’t lobby the US Congress with millions of bucks, they apparently have to spare (for the occasion). I wonder what the percentage of bailout bucks, flowing back to Congressmen and Senators, really IS?!!
#8 – Misanthropic Scott
I stand corrected. I quoted the engine sizes of the 2009 models.
I’m waiting for my 1992 camry to die.
I’ve got a 1995 Tercel… it got some minor rust, but other than that… it works fine.
Road & Track (May 2009) points out that the new Prius is an EPA Midsize car, and the new Insight is an EPA Compact car. With only about $1200 price difference in the U.S., the Prius will probably still shine with what consumers here want (more space, more power, better gas mileage, more blinky lights, etc.) for just a bit more money.
We shall see.
I’m all for it if they work to improve the tech so they can do useful vehicles. If they can create a $35K vehicle the size of a 1/2 ton truck that can do 650 mi in a single 10 hour driving day, you’ve got something worthy.
Shame they look almost the same style wise. Switch out the face and only enthusiasts could tell which one was what one and what one was who.
yawn I thought the 2G Prius was an efficient but without any passion type car the Insight has just taken it down a notch and the 3G Prius is not any more of a head turner.
To make these kinds of cars sell well over the long hall they will need to look cool and perform as well as their petrol counter parts. I want them to or some thing even better(H fuel cells maybe?) to take over. Big Oil has had too much influence for to long. Could they get design help from Alfa?
Heck the new Ford Fiesta looks way better and has a Euro clean diesel that gets 65MPG.
Does efficiency need this hybrid level of complexity?
@MPL Sure, you make a throw away statement like that and yet give no options, I imagine your holier-than-thou bent has been appeased….
I was checking out the Prius 3G web site last week because I was interested to see what they were going to do with the solar roof option. I was hoping they were going to run the A/C while parked. Turns out… not that much. They only plan to run a fan,
I’m not sure how much a fan is going to help when parked in Phoenix.
#14 – Snake Oiler,
I don’t believe the car needs to be more attractive than functional. I just want to get from point A to point B.
Oh, and Hydrogen is not a fuel. It may be a battery. But, for it to be a fuel, it would have to give back more energy than it takes to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen. This is a physical impossibility.
#16 – Ron,
The solar panel is a disappointment regardless until they make it charge the batteries. Check the aftermarket. They’ve had it right for years. Maybe Toyota will get the point before my camry dies.
http://tinyurl.com/5r7b3d
I love my 09 prius although avg only 44mpg . Must be the hilly area I’m in.
Glad to see competition starting to happen.
What we need is for the American manufacturers to design an electric car with a gas assist. The current hybrids are really internal combustion engines with elect motor assist. Lots of room for improvement and to gain an American lead .
#18 – Dallas,
Or, we could just drive quality American electric cars like the
EV-1Tesla. I keep hoping they’ll make a sedan … and that my Manhattan garage will find a way to charge cars for a fee.http://teslamotors.com/
And now they did make a sedan!! I didn’t even hear about it before hitting their website. Nice!
I’m going to check out the specs … and price … now.
#19. M Scott – Wow. Those are sweet indeed but the price must be impossibly high.
I really believe (as you) that the future of transport is all electric. However, the path will most likely be transitional as follows:
– Gas with electric assist (current hybrids)
– Electric with gas assist (opp for USA makers)
– All electric.
regards
I still think although electric/hybrid cars are improving they still need to improve a lot more before I will buy one. I live in Europe and new small European diesel cars have very low emissions and can compete with hybrids in terms of being green.
I have this nagging feeling that the hunger for a plug-in Prius is because people have in mind a place to plug it in and have someone else pay for fillups.
#10 Check how many non-US carmakers build here in states that make unionization very difficult and who offer huge tax breaks and other gifts to get the carmaker to put a factory there, thus cannibalizing the market for American nameplates. The American makers and unions have contributed to their own demise but giving away the store to Japanese and Germans has not helped and now the pain is being spread to all taxpayers. Brilliant policy, US govt.
23 years ago my diesel Rabbit got 50 mpg, and diesel was cheaper than gas then. It was also lighter and much less complicated than a hybrid.
#20 – Dallas,
$49,900. I think that’s not so bad when much lower fuel and maintenance costs are factored in for the duration of the car. I WANT ONE!!!
Now. How do I get my Manhattan parking garage to charge it for a fee?
I’ll wager that Obama’s latest “edict” about future US cars getting 35MPG, comes with a convenient loophole for the US automakers, not having to make electric cars. It will go something like this. “If they can demonstrate a concerted effort to meet the 35MPG goal, then they don’t have to make electric cars to stay in business (or pay back the bailout bucks).” We’ll see.
The new Honda Insight sure is a great hybrid car. But I’d still choose the Prius any time of the day.