Prius Outgrowing Toyota?

Toyota has hit an undeniable market-defining home run with their hybrid Prius model, and that is certainly not new news. However, recent reports are indicating that Toyota is seriously considering spinning off the Prius into its own brand that will stand on its own, much like Lexus. The Prius line of cars will be Toyota's exclusive hybrid brand and will likely start off with 3 models ranging from a small compact to a full-featured sedan. If true, we should expect to see this new strategy bear fruit as early as 2009. Toyota is also indicating that the new Prius brand is likely to be Toyota's exclusive supplier of hybrids in the marketplace.

This brand strategy is likely to have its pros and cons. On the one hand, it makes sense for Toyota to look for ways to capitalize on the surging popularity of the Prius name which has quickly become synonymous with hybrid, efficiency, reliability and customer satisfaction. However, one has to wonder if putting all of your hybrid eggs in one basket is such a good idea. What happens to their existing line of cars, all of which could conceivably have hybrid powertrains some day? Why make Prius the 'exclusive' hybrid brand? Might Toyota be better off using the Prius name to denote hybrid in their existing product lineup ie, Camry Prius, RAV4 Prius etc. In my view, that would be a better way to extend and get more mileage out of the Prius brand without pigeon-holing themselves to one serve-all hybrid brand.

We should get some official confirmation from Toyota soon on this Prius rumor. In the meantime, CNBC's Jim Cramer, the heavily caffeinated host for the Mad Money stock market show - recently gave some serious on-air love for Toyota. He absolutely slammed just about every major automaker except Toyota and gave Toyota a 'strong buy' endorsement. He sees Ford and GM crumbling and cutting jobs, and also expects Chrysler to get killed by the Cerberus buyout. This leaves Toyota as the lone bright spot as they continue to invest cash in the future and not cut bait like the rest.

via automobile magazine
via autoblog
via leftlanenews

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· 2011 Ford Explorer
· Honda Announces Mileage Marathon Winner
· Cadillac Converj is GM's next electric car

[ READER COMMENTS ]

Prius Outgrowing Toyota?

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.