Toyota: Cheap fuel will stall appetite for Prius
Japanese car-maker drastically lowers global sales target as petrol prices sink to 2007 levelsToyota has announced that it expects low petrol prices will lower demand for its all-new, fourth-generation petrol-electric hybrid, the Prius, forcing it to re-evaluate how many cars it will sell globally.
The news, reported by newswire Reuters, said that originally the Japanese car-maker had hoped to sell a maximum 400,000 Prius cars worldwide but now has had to reset its global sales target to between 300,000-350,000 because it fears cheap petrol will reduce buyers appetite for fuel-efficient cars in markets like the US where fuel prices are at a seven-year low.
Correlating with the drop in fuel prices, Toyota has already reported sales of the previous generation Prius dropped by 12 per cent in the month of November.
In Japan the Prius has just gone on sale priced at around $26,500, which is 19 per cent more expensive than the car it replaces.
It’s not known if Australians will be hit with a similar price rise when the Prius goes on sale sometime in the first quarter of 2016.
Toyota Australia's current Prius is priced from $32,490 following a circa-$5000 price cut in 2011, but has found just 424 buyers here to November this year.
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