Toyota – More Than 1,000,000 Hybrids Sold Worldwide In 2012

[xcel]

New CAFÉ, European and Asian CO2/fuel economy regs mean little with fuel efficient vehicles sales like this!

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Aug 30, 2012

A First generation Toyota Prius (2002 shown) – $19,995 to start and the one that started it all…

According to a Toyota corporate release from a few minutes ago, the company is currently on a sales plan to sell one million hybrid vehicles in a calendar year worldwide for the first time.

A record 630,048 Toyota and Lexus petrol-electric hybrids were purchased worldwide in the six months through June 30 which is more than the entire hybrid sales total of 628,989 hybrids sold during all of 2011.

The Prius family including the hatch, c, v and Plug-in have accounted for almost three-quarters of the total with the Auris, Yaris, Lexus family and specialized Toyota hybrids sold in Japan making up the other 25%.

The familiar Prius hatch is of course the world's best-selling hybrid with over 200,000 vehicles sold in the first half of the year. The c was hot on its heels topping 150,000, Prius v at 100,000 and Camry Hybrid at 50,000 over the same period.

The half-year tally brings cumulative Toyota and Lexus hybrid sales around the world to more than 4.2 million. Prius, which first went on sale in Japan in 1997, accounts for almost 2.7 million of the total.

When you have a franchise as good as Prius, you protect it and from what I see, the only company that has a chance at sales success is Ford with the somewhat affordable C-MAX. Other than that, the competition is either too expensive or provide far too little fuel economy to even bother. Other than the D-segment with the Sonata, Optima, Camry and Fusion going head to head for hearts, minds and wallets

[priusCpilot]

Long live the Prius! Hip hip!

[waltermlee]

The Ford C-max isn't here in the DC area yet but I hope they get here soon.
Toyota and Toyota dealerships need some decent competition for the Prius.

[talonts]

Originally Posted by waltermlee

The Ford C-max isn't here in the DC area yet but I hope they get here soon.
Toyota and Toyota dealerships need some decent competition for the Prius.

The C-Max is a little strange. They're pushing it as a V competitor, but it is much closer in size to the Liftback. The V is MUCH larger in cargo capacity.

But the C-Max is better built for American bodies. It has more head and hip room. It should sell well.

[wick1ert]

Originally Posted by talonts

The C-Max is a little strange. They're pushing it as a V competitor, but it is much closer in size to the Liftback. The V is MUCH larger in cargo capacity.

But the C-Max is better built for American bodies. It has more head and hip room. It should sell well.

Isn't the C-Max closer to the liftback in cargo but the v in passenger area? If that's the case, why wouldn't Ford go after the larger one, knowing they can "best" it in almost all the other areas. From a marketing standpoint, it's exactly what they want. I'm also curious how many of the masses care as much about cargo space as they do "can I fit my big butt in here comfortably?".

[herm]

150k for the C?.. that is a very nice uptake, it came out not too long ago. Hopefully Ford gets the hint about a lower cost econobox hybrid.

[xcel]

Hi All:

Trying to work out a little do diddy with Toyota the past few days regarding this but here are the specs from a portion of the proposal...

2012 Prius v

Cargo Capacity (seats up): 34.3 and 40.2 (rear seats forward) cu. ft.
Cargo Capacity (seats down): 67.3 cu. ft.
Headroom: 39.6/38.6 in.
Leg Room: 41.3/35.9 = 77.2 in
Shoulder Room: 55.9/55.2 in
Hip Room 53.5/53.5 in

2013 C-MAX

Cargo Capacity (seats up): 24.5
Cargo Capacity (seats down): 52.6
Headroom: 41/39.4 in.
Leg Room: 40.4/36.4 = 76.8 in.
Shoulder Room: 55.9/55.2 in
Hip Room 54.3/51.9 in

Wayne

[PaleMelanesian]

Why's the C-Max so narrow in the rear seat hip room? That might be a problem for "some people I know" with kids.

[xcel]

Hi Andrew:

I was surprised that the C-MAX is as large as it is given its Focus platform roots. All the sizing parameters are Focus + ad in some cases ++. But most certinaly not v size.

Ford Focus Hatch

Cargo Capacity (seats up): 23.8
Cargo Capacity (seats down): 44.8
Headroom: 38.3/37.9 in.
Leg Room: 41.9/33.2 = 75.1 in.
Shoulder Room: 55.6/53.7 in
Hip Room 53.9/52.7 in.

[PaleMelanesian]

It gains an inch of front hiproom over the Focus, but loses an inch in the back. (effectively losing 2 inches from the larger baseline) I think it might be those sliding doors.