Toyota has quietly nursed along its own electric hybrid, the Prius Plug-in, to pleasing results.
Since its launch last year, the Prius Plug-in has sold 7, 734, units in the United States, according to data from Automakers and Automotive News. The Prius Plug-in was the second-fastest selling car in March 2012, and the third-fastest in April. It even outpaced sales of the Cevy Volt during the month of April. The car gets the gasoline equivalent of 95 miles per gallon and has a starting price in the U.S. of about $32,000.
It’s a good start, especially for a vehicle in a category that comprises a mere sliver of the automotive market. What’s more, the Prius Plug-In is only available in 15 “launch” states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. The car will be available in remaining states sometime in 2013.
What accounts for the Prius Plug-In’s strong start? Keley Mays, a blogger at Cars.com, posits that some of it has to do with brand recognition: As of February 2012. 2.5 million cars carrying the Prius name have been sold worldwide. “That makes it relatively mainstream,” Mays writes. “Americans have bought four Priuses for every five Hyundai Sonatas [a briskly-selling gasoline-powered sedan] over the same span.”
What’s more, Toyota isn’t afraid to get a little creative with marketing. On Sunday, the Home Shopping Network devoted a three-hour programming block to the Prius and other Toyota-model hybrids in a segment called “Discover Toyota”– the first fully car-devoted programming in the network’s 34-year history, according to USA Today. HSN couldn’t sell the cars directly, but it did give Toyota an outlet to explain the features and technology of the Prius lineup , a move that Toyota officials touted as a great success.
-Courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor
No comments:
Post a Comment