Toyota planning to manufacture the red-hot Prius hybrid in U.S.
Posted by: in Products and ServicesFiled under: Products and services, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), responding to U.S. demand for its Prius hybrid vehicle, will start making the small sedan in the U.S. The decision comes on the back of a weak U.S. dollar — which makes exports more pricey — and also reflects the fact that the U.S. is the biggest market for the 45 MPG vehicle.
It will take until 2010 for the Prius to be built in U.S. factories owned by Toyota. In a strange twist of irony, the Mississippi plant that will build the Prius was slated to make Highlander SUVs. Except for the hybrid version of that midsize SUV, consumers continue to shun nearly anything with a V6 or bigger in the face of “not-going-anywhere” $5/gallon gasoline.
With the U.S. making up over 60% of global demand for the Prius, Toyota has a winner here — but it needs to spread the wealth into other passenger car products as well. If Toyota can get its hybrid technology inexpensive in such staples as the Camry and Highlander, it will have a winning place in U.S. sales, even more than it commands now. The Prius is a great first step — but more need to come. Consumers are mad about gas prices and fickle about which future vehicles they’ll drive — play to them.
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