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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/Japanese_Flag_30x22.jpg A bold move to stay in command! (istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3114574)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Toyota_Prius-III_2.jpgKyodo News - Mar. 13, 2009

If Toyota gets the Prius close to the Insight price, the Prius will still reign as the "King of Efficiency" ... Ed.

Toyota plans to price the base model of the new Prius gas-electric hybrid, due to debut in Japan in mid-May, at 2.05 million yen, nearly 300,000 yen lower than the price for the comparable current model, company sources said Friday.

Japan's top automaker also plans to launch a small all-new hybrid with a price tag of less than 2 million yen in around 2011 in Japan, the sources added.

In a bid to retain its leadership in the global hybrid market, Toyota has decided to make the popular Prius more affordable in light of the brisk sales of the 1.89 million yen Honda hybrid Insight, according to the sources. The low-price Honda car hit the market in February... http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3114574

I think this about sums it up: :woot:


Edit: I wonder if they are offering a real stripped down version to hit this low price? That would be great! Manual windows! :)

Yes! I am elated to hear this as well!


This link (http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0311/NGY200903110002.html) is to another article in Japanese.

Here is the Google translated page. (http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asahi.com%2Fbusiness%2Fupdate%2F0311%2FNGY200903110002.html&sl=ja&tl=en&history_state0=) The other articles I have seen were referring to the Gen II and this is definitely GREAT news for potential Gen III owners.

Toyota listens when the common man speaks and this is what has kept them as a leader in technology. They won't try to Rape and Pillage the working man when they have a great product.

Wow. That's right in Insight II territory. Here's hoping the local dealers dont R&P the working man. Give them an honest trade-in value, leave off the perks-n-profitmakers, and get them a competitive interest rate (if financing), and don't play the "that one is sold but we have a $35k package-7 unit in stock covered in a dense layer of bird poop". Stick to this plan, and as the ghosts say in the corn fields of Iowa, "build it and they will come".

Hi Mike:

___Wow and excellent find! How is Toyota doing it? More importantly, thank you Toyota for doing it!

___Daox, this will not be a manual crank window version (no such thing) but the base with all the stuff including Touch Tracer more than likely.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Wow, this seems quite unusual, sign of the times....Honda will have to lower their MSRP or be willing to haggle if the magnitude of this discount materializes in the U.S.

This is HUGE! According to Yahoo's Currency Converter (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter?amt=300000&from=JPY&to=USD&submit=Convert/#from=JPY;to=USD;amt=300000), the conversion today is a little over $3061