Hybrid Battle Prompts Toyota to Sell 2 Models of Prius

Toyota Motor Corporation is planning to sell their current model of Prius once the newly designed version will be for sale sometime in May. This is a very unusual move that could help the sales of the hybrid wipe out the competition from their direct rival company, Honda Motor. The president of the Toyota Motor Corporation names Katsuaki Watanabe had mentioned last Thursday that there really is a big demand in the market of Japan to come up with a third generation model of Prius as well as the smaller model which is currently on sale right now.

No Further Details

The president of Toyota Motor Corporation Katsuaki Watanabe also declined to give some details regarding the overseas plans. However, his is the comment which came first from the camp of Toyota to confirm the media reports regarding the Prius. In the recent Japanese reports, it was said that the gas-electric hybrid of the Prius will continue to go on sale in order to match the cheap pricing of the Insight hybrid car made by their rival Honda Motor Co. The Prius car is currently facing a challenge that is unprecedented by the Honda Insight. That one starts at one million and eight hundred ninety thousand yen (roughly the equivalent of nineteen thousand dollars) in the country of Japan and around nineteen thousand eight hundred in the United States. The Toyota Prius is now for sale at around twenty two thousand dollars in the United States as well as two point three million yen is the price it sells for in Japan.

Slashing Costs

Katsuaki Watanabe also said that the company Toyota is now slashing the costs of their hybrids to around a fourth of the initial cost outlay. He also declines to provide any other details when it comes to the price. Katsuaki Watanabe decided to just let the company come up with explanations at the time that the new model will be unveiled sometime in the month of May. Honda is currently making a really good car which is smart enough to address several ecological problems; Watanabe was quoted in saying in response to the Honda Insight in one showroom in Tokyo. Such will stimulate the hybrid technology development as well as further encourage cost-cutting. And of course, this will be their ultimate goal. The automobile Honda Insight has been a big hit ever since it had gone on sale last February in Japan. Furthermore, it is also expected to do well in the overseas showrooms in just a couple of weeks. The Toyota Prius is currently the global bestseller when it comes to hybrid automobiles garnering a cumulative figure of one point two million units sold all over the world ever since it had debuted in 1997.