Toyota Prius axed
Japanese giant’s hybrid icon has been discontinued Down UnderThe Toyota Prius has been discontinued in Australia, 21 years after the iconic petrol-electric hatchback arrived here as the local market leader’s first hybrid model in October 2001.
Toyota Australia announced the shock news today, when it reiterated the local success of the Prius model family that notched up more than 35,000 sales in a little over two decades.
But sales of the fourth-generation Toyota Prius, launched here in March 2016, have slowed to a trickle over the past few years, with just 26 sold so far in 2022 – which is actually up from 18 at the same time in 2021.
Meantime, sales of the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – the petrol-electric version of Australia’s top-selling SUV, which is Toyota’s best-seller behind the HiLux ute with almost 14,000 sales so far in 2022 – continues to command waiting times of up to 12 months.
Indeed, Toyota Australia now offers hybrid versions of at least seven models – including the Yaris, Yaris Cross, C-HR, Corolla, Camry, RAV4 and Kluger – and the company said way back in 2018 that the expansion of its trademark hybrid tech could lead to a rethink of Prius’ position in its range.
Last year Toyota Australia sold 65,491 electrified vehicles and the RAV4 Hybrid was the nation’s most popular hybrid vehicle.
In contrast, since its Australian launch in 2001 – four years after the original Prius was revealed in Japan in 1997 – Toyota has sold 20,847 examples of the Prius, with the Prius C hatch and Prius V people-mover, which were added in 2012 and then axed in 2020 due to slow sales, bringing total Prius sales to 35,947.
“When we launched the Prius in October 2001, it was difficult to predict the enormous impact that Toyota hybrids would eventually have on the Australian automotive landscape,” said Toyota Australia’s vice-president of sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, in a press release today.
“In 2001, we sold just a handful of Prius cars, taking until mid-2018 to reach 100,000 Toyota hybrid-electric vehicle sales and surpassing the 200,000 sales mark in 2021.
“Last year Toyota sold more than 60,000 hybrid-electric vehicles and we expect that 2022 will continue Toyota’s strong leadership in the sales of electrified vehicles and we look forward to continuing the Prius legacy through our broad range of powerful and efficient hybrid-electric offerings.”
The Toyota Prius first arrived in Australia with a 1.5-litre hybrid powertrain producing 53kW/115Nm, before the second-generation version was launched in 2003, followed by the third-generation in 2009, by which time it had notched up more than 1.2 million sales in 80 countries.
Toyota is yet to sell any plug-in vehicles in Australia, where its first EV will be the Toyota Bz4X mid-size SUV – in either late 2022 or early 2023.
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