As you know, Toyota’s Prius is selling fast. The cars are selling so well that, even if you place an order today, you cannot get it before the end of March, 2010 and before the time when the government’s eco car tax cut runs out. However, because of this, Toyota is experiencing a sudden drop in the sales of their other brands such as the bread-and-butter car “Corolla” and “Mark Ⅱ”. They are facing a tough time now.
The numbers of new car sales of the Corolla in June was 6,468, 50% less than the corresponding period of the previous year. The Corolla is running in low gear coming 12th in the ranking of sales including mini-vehicles and 8th in the registered cars excluding mini-vehicles. In the accumulated total of sales for this year’s first half (from January to June), the Corolla was struggling and came 11th including mini-vehicles and 5th in the registered car base.
Not only within Toyota but worldwide, the Corolla has been the car that the world takes as the symbol of Japan’s domestic mass-produced vehicles. The Corolla had always had a fixed position as either number 1 or 2 in the registered car base but now, look at this. The Corolla’s sluggish sales also means that Toyota is in agony.
Although the new model Prius has the engine displacement of 1.8L, with an electric motor, they have similar power as 2.4L cars. They upgraded the interior from its old model. Its recommended retail price was originally set at 2.5 million yen but the new president Mr Toyoda decided to sell them for 2.05 million yen. With the government’s eco car tax cut, without automobile acquisition tax and weight levy, you can get one for the similar price as a 1.8 to 2 million yen Corolla.
“It is not how many we sell and how much we make. We have to make cars thinking what types of car people want and how much they are happy to pay for one”, said Mr Toyoda and promised rejuvenation of his company’s product line-up at his inauguration press interview. He said that the rejuvenation would start with “the Prius”.
This means that Toyota is applying a low margin, high volume policy as their business model. It also means that the Prius is going to eat up other Toyota cars, which might lead to their leading products such as the Corolla “forfeit its top spot”.
After the Japan Automobile Dealers Association expressed their concern that “Even if the economy recovers after 2010, with the reaction to the government’s cut-off of the subsidy, this might cause a drop in new car sales”, the voice asking the government to extend the temporary legislation of the eco car tax cut is getting industry-wide.
It looks like Toyota is coming back to life, thanks to the popularity of the Prius but they are worried how long it is going to last after the government stop the subsidy and thinking that no other cars apart from the Prius are selling well, they are scared of the war of attrition from the discount price war between the car manufacturers, following the cut.
So what are they going to do under the pressure? Toyota is facing a crucial test.
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/
(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955
9.04.2009
Old model Prius set a Guinness world record
Toyota’s “Prius”, the top selling car in Japan at the moment, is well-known for its energy-efficiency. There was a challenge drive recently to see how far it can go without refuelling.
The car used was not a new ZVW30 but an old NHW20. The fuel tank on the ZVW30 is the same 45L as the old NHW20. However, the tank on the ZVW30 can only put exactly 45L but if you keep filling up the tank on the NHW20 by giving it a tilt and fill it to the “limit”, it can contain 58L. So they decided to use a NHW20 because of the greater capacity of the tank.
They also chose Daikanbo (Aso City, Kumamoto Prefecture / 969m above sea level), the highest peak of Mt Aso’s outer rim of the crater as the starting point. This was to use the approximately 10km downslope to earn more mileage. Of course, even after getting down to the flat area, they set the course so that they could keep the speed at 40km/h without annoying other drivers on the road and with the appropriate use of breaks they could hoard up the regenerative energy . For the Guinness Book of Records, there are some strict rules such as using a loop or a round-trip course would not be counted; so they had to set a course without breaking the rules but was effective for fuel efficiency.
Seven different drivers drove the 2000km course which went through 7 Prefectures in Kyushu and they were aiming to renew the old record of 2348.3km. When they started, the weather was cloudy but was not looking too bad. However, on the second day, the worst downpour of rain on record hit the north of Kyushu. With quite a few road closures and lane closures, they had to change the route a few times. After more bad weather followed and more course changes, on the 6th day, the last day of the challenge, they recorded 2349km. They kept going on the National Route and stopped near the border of Izumi City, Kagoshima Prefecture and Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture with the record of 2369.4km. The time they finished the challenge was 1:35am, in the middle of the night, the time it took was 63 hours and 35 minutes and the fuel efficiency was 39.9km/L. This record will be sent to the Guinness Book of Records and is expected to be approved by this autumn.
Well, it was a challenge we can really see the incredible fuel efficiency of the Prius. At the moment it is a 9 month wait even if you order one today and it will not be in time for the Eco-car Supplement which ends in March 2010; the government asked Toyota to increase production. Does Prius have a Guinness World Record not only in fuel efficiency but also for sales as well?
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/
(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955
The car used was not a new ZVW30 but an old NHW20. The fuel tank on the ZVW30 is the same 45L as the old NHW20. However, the tank on the ZVW30 can only put exactly 45L but if you keep filling up the tank on the NHW20 by giving it a tilt and fill it to the “limit”, it can contain 58L. So they decided to use a NHW20 because of the greater capacity of the tank.
They also chose Daikanbo (Aso City, Kumamoto Prefecture / 969m above sea level), the highest peak of Mt Aso’s outer rim of the crater as the starting point. This was to use the approximately 10km downslope to earn more mileage. Of course, even after getting down to the flat area, they set the course so that they could keep the speed at 40km/h without annoying other drivers on the road and with the appropriate use of breaks they could hoard up the regenerative energy . For the Guinness Book of Records, there are some strict rules such as using a loop or a round-trip course would not be counted; so they had to set a course without breaking the rules but was effective for fuel efficiency.
Seven different drivers drove the 2000km course which went through 7 Prefectures in Kyushu and they were aiming to renew the old record of 2348.3km. When they started, the weather was cloudy but was not looking too bad. However, on the second day, the worst downpour of rain on record hit the north of Kyushu. With quite a few road closures and lane closures, they had to change the route a few times. After more bad weather followed and more course changes, on the 6th day, the last day of the challenge, they recorded 2349km. They kept going on the National Route and stopped near the border of Izumi City, Kagoshima Prefecture and Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture with the record of 2369.4km. The time they finished the challenge was 1:35am, in the middle of the night, the time it took was 63 hours and 35 minutes and the fuel efficiency was 39.9km/L. This record will be sent to the Guinness Book of Records and is expected to be approved by this autumn.
Well, it was a challenge we can really see the incredible fuel efficiency of the Prius. At the moment it is a 9 month wait even if you order one today and it will not be in time for the Eco-car Supplement which ends in March 2010; the government asked Toyota to increase production. Does Prius have a Guinness World Record not only in fuel efficiency but also for sales as well?
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/
(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
