While it wasn’t the first hybrid car available to the masses, the Toyota Prius quickly became the the most successful hybrid car worldwide. On the heels of unparalleled sales success, Toyota is rolling out the much anticipated, all-new 2010 Prius at dealers nationwide. However, with 180,000 orders for the hybrid in Japan already, success seems to be putting a strain on Toyota.
The initial sales target for the 2010 Toyota Prius in Japan was for 10,000 units per month. With orders far surpassing the monthly target, Minneapolis Used Cars suggests that Toyota is faced with supply challenges as a similarly high demand is also faced here in the U.S.
Last month, the Toyota Prius became the highest selling vehicle in Japan. This was good news for Toyota considering Honda’s latest hybrid, the Insight, had previously been in the top sales spot for the month of April. With competition in the hybrid car segment heating up, the demand for the third generation Prius remains impressive according to Akron Toyota. Even as the Honda Insight is officially the most affordable hybrid in the U.S., Toyota Service Tustin says the latest Prius remains the epitome of fuel efficiency and eco-friendly technology.
Toyota has become the world’s largest automaker, but it has seen plenty of challenges thanks to the credit crunch and sluggish economy. The automaker has even faced its worst losses ever this past fiscal year. Despite healthy demand for the latest Prius hybrid, Toyota’s financial woes are attributed to falling demand of other models in the automaker’s lineup. With sales still down, and production of the Prius becoming strained, Car Smart Auto Sales says that Toyota may have to alter the worldwide distribution of the vehicle to satisfy a seemingly insatiable global demand.
Volvo Dives into Plug-in Hybrid Technology
Volvo has been struggling amid slumping global sales, but that hasn’t stopped the automaker from diving into research and development. One such as product of its R&D efforts is a new plug-in hybrid that will be due by 2012. Volvo has committed itself to producing a high mileage diesel-electric plug-in hybrid, but it has yet to confirm its plans to sell the vehicle in the U.S.
Lexus ES Still Critical to Luxury Brand Lineup
As one Lexus’ most popular models, there will be plenty of drivers that will be happy to see a revamped Lexus ES 350 coming to showrooms later this month. While it may not be a full redesign, the updating certainly brings needed enhancements.
Euro Civic Type-R Teases U.S. Consumers
In the U.S., Honda is mostly known for producing somewhat conservative, economical cars. However, the image of Honda outside of the States is far more performance oriented. This is attributed to a range of models that can be had overseas, but remain unavailable here.
