Believe It Or Not, We Are Facing Another Prius Shortage

With Americans suddenly reacting strongly to soaring gasoline prices, four Japanese cars outsold Ford's (F) fuel-thirsty F-Series pickup truck for the first time ever in May: the Toyota Camry and new 2009 Corolla, and Honda's (HMC) Civic and recently redesigned Accord. Yet, oddly, the most fuel-efficient model on the market, the hybrid-powered Toyota Prius, saw its sales plunge 39.8% in May, to just 15,011 units. Prius sales are up a mere 2.2%, to 79,675, so far this year.

What's going on? There certainly is no lack of demand for the Prius. A Toyota Motor (TM) spokesman says dealers have waiting lists of potential buyers and that Priuses typically sell within hours of hitting the sales lot. The problem is that Toyota simply can't produce enough of them to keep up with surging demand. The Japanese parent company has allocated about 15,000 Priuses per month to the U.S. market, which adds up to about the same as last year's sales of 181,221 units (up 69% from 2006). The main bottleneck is that Panasonic (MC), the company that produces the hybrid's batteries, is scrambling to increase production.
 

toolatetorace - 6/10/2008 10:32:20 PM

+4 Boost

No NO ! do like the oil companies do , raise the prices when there is an alleged shortage

0to60 - 6/10/2008 5:39:00 PM

0 Boost

my vote would be for going to slap bush just for being an idiot!

nybimmer - 6/10/2008 7:54:19 PM

0 Boost

'The Boss'...your posting is very inappropriate.

If you have a gripe with somebody, please state their name and why you disagree with them, but don't go about maligning a whole category/classification of people becuase you won't addres someone directly.

Hateful speech like this has no place on this board..we mainly just disagree with each other about whether we like Lexus or not...that's the extent of it.

Agent009 - 6/11/2008 9:39:51 AM

+1 Boost

"TheBoss" is no more.. too many warnings

Agent63 - 6/10/2008 6:28:14 PM

-2 Boost

Watch quality be sacrificed with this shortage. When a company can't meet demands they are going to cut corners that's a fact.

Star - 6/10/2008 7:12:45 PM

-5 Boost

"If you can't trust Toyota, who can you trust?"

The inspiration, the role model for Toyota, the German cars.

flozel1 - 6/11/2008 12:12:54 AM

-1 Boost

In your wet dreams, maybe. Yah, you still wet the bed at your archaic age.

kut17 - 6/10/2008 6:35:09 PM

+3 Boost

I'd personally go for the Civic Hybrid. It's only a couple MPG less than the Prius, has more power, and is a heck of a lot more attractive.

Star - 6/10/2008 7:13:26 PM

-5 Boost

Same c**p.

Star - 6/10/2008 7:24:55 PM

-4 Boost

...different badge.

flozel1 - 6/11/2008 12:11:08 AM

+5 Boost

Same moron.

flozel1 - 6/11/2008 12:11:33 AM

+5 Boost

...different comment.

Star - 6/11/2008 9:01:10 AM

0 Boost

You said it moron, not me. LOL...

S4cabriofoxone - 6/11/2008 11:40:23 PM

+3 Boost

Actually, the Civic Hybrid is utterly hideous, although it's really only because of the terrible wheels. Give it standard Civic wheels and it would look like... a Civic.

kut17 - 6/13/2008 3:34:26 AM

+1 Boost

Of course. If I was to get the Civic, i'd buy the Civic Sedan's 18-inch wheels.

Lecsucks - 6/10/2008 10:38:43 PM

+5 Boost

America supplying the German with Middle Eastern Oil !!! Where did you get that from? So America buy the oil from Middle East and then sell it to Germany, or oil tankers first come to the U.S. for the heck of it and then turn around to go to Europe... I've seen some stupid stuff on here, but your comment must be the most stupid one ever.

Star - 6/10/2008 10:50:32 PM

+1 Boost

You are so funny huu76...

M53R - 6/11/2008 6:48:38 AM

+2 Boost

Who mentioned anything about America "buying" oil from the middle east? haha!

How much are they buying the Iraqi oil for? LOL.

M35MT - 6/11/2008 9:01:04 AM

+2 Boost

"Believe it or not"

009 must've slept through his economics class while getting his "liberal arts" degree.

Ha.

Agent009 - 6/11/2008 9:39:02 AM

+1 Boost

"liberal arts"? You don't know me very well...

sector - 6/11/2008 5:55:40 PM

+3 Boost

Folks, you better start warming up to these Priuses, they're going to dominate the streets in a few years... better get one while you still can, soon they'll be as scarce as Tickle Me Elmo on christmas eve 1996 :)

Agent63 - 6/12/2008 8:03:55 AM

+1 Boost

PRIUS is an eco-car. what do you expect? Who cares if it's built by GM as long as quality is kept at optimal level.