Prius Under Discount Knife

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday December 8, 2006

David Berthon

Six months ago high petrol prices meant petrol-electric hybrid vehicles were the hot ticket. However, recent lower pump prices and plentiful stock has seen discounts emerge on Toyota's coveted petrol-electric Prius sedan.

Terry Shields Toyota at Parramatta has 10 automatic Prius hybrid sedans in stock and has marked them down to $34,988 plus on-road costs, a saving of $2012. Metallic paint adds $215. It works out to a drive-away price of $38,117, with private rego.

Our most popular hybrid car, the 1.5-litre Prius is equipped with a continuously variable automatic transmission, two airbags, anti-lock brakes, stability program, air-conditioning and cruise control.

Few, if any, deals are available on the higher grade Prius i-Tech model launched late last year which is in relatively short supply.

However, pay $46,500 plus on-road costs ($50,000 drive-away with private rego) and gain side airbags, a rear-view camera linked to a multi-vision touch screen, full leather trim, climate control air-conditioning, a trip computer, satellite navigation, audio enhancements including a six-disc CD player and an upgraded Bluetooth phone system.

The Prius has Toyota's three-year/100,000km warranty and the battery system is covered by a five-year/100,000km warranty.

Toyota introduced the Prius to Australia in limited numbers late in 2001. When the second-generation model, with improved styling, arrived in late 2003 sales started to gain momentum. In 2004 it tallied 1094 and grew to 1423 in 2005. To the end of November this year sales were 1783. Worldwide, Prius sales passed the 500,000 mark in September. More than 280,000 have been sold in the United States, 200,000 in Japan and 40,000 in Europe.

At low speeds and under moderate acceleration the Prius is purely battery-powered with zero emissions. Under harder acceleration the 1.5-litre petrol engine assists the electric motor. The batteries are recharged when it coasts or when it is braking.

The Prius's relatively high price keeps sales figures low; the similar-sized 1.8-litre Toyota Corolla, at half the price, outsells it by 16 to 1.

Toyota has just consolidated its market-leading position in this country by posting its most successful November on record - selling 20,247 vehicles to gain a 24.3 per cent market share. It now leads Holden by a margin of 61,190 or 7 per centage points of market share.

In September Toyota became the No. 2 brand in the US for the first time. The Toyota Camry has been the best-selling car in the US for eight of the past nine years.

Takeshi Suzuki, Toyota's senior managing director, recently told a news conference the company will try to outdo its forecast for an operating profit of a record $21.8 billion this financial year.

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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