Toyota Prius may have been the first on the hybrid electric vehicle market, but it is, by no means, alone.
Since 1997, Toyota Prius and her hybrid extended family have sold over five million units worldwide, just shy of two million in the United States, alone. Encouraged by this news, and seeing the rising popularity of other plug-in hybrid electric vehicles [PHEV], Toyota Motor Company set a sales goal for the Toyota Prius Plug-In at 12,000 for 2013. In spite of Toyota Prius’ winning reputation, the market, now cluttered with a bunch of other PHEVs, hasn’t been conducive to meeting the goal. So far, just over 8,000 have been sold.
Other plug-in vehicles have been dropping prices in a bid to win customers, such as General Motors, who reduced the price on the Chevy Volt by up to $8,000, and Nissan, who reduced the price of the Nissan Leaf by about 18%. Toyota Motor Company, in a press release, announcing new pricing for the 2014 Toyota Prius Plug-In, in an effort to make the vehicle more competitive with the other plug-ins on the market.
The 2014 Toyota Prius Plug-In will now sell for $29,990, reflecting a $2,010 price drop, and the Advanced model will sell for $34,905, reflecting a $4,620 drop. [Advanced is basically the same, just with all the options ticked.] Will these price changes help Prius win back some of the customers heading in other directions? Venturing into the sub-$30,000 price bracket is surely a good move for Toyota but, on the whole, it is encouraging to see PHEV sales surging across all brands.
Image © Toyota UK / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
