Prius’ Problems Are About to Get Worse
[Jan. 12, 2020]
We recently posited that Toyota could become the BlackBerry of the automotive world. The premise was that what was once a cutting edge green car – a vehicle that brought hybrid technology to the masses – has turned stagnant and is doing what too many Toyotas do: rest on their laurels. And on the heels of that, Tesla entered the market with technologically hipper cars that tempted buyers away from the trusted Toyota name and steered them toward newer, shinier toys.
A glance at the Toyota Prius family U.S. sales for the last two decades confirms that the Prius is, indeed, in trouble – even after its impressive post-2008 Great Recession recovery.
The Prius family of vehicles, which includes both hybrids and plug-in hybrids, has seen declining sales since 2013 – which is right about the time that Tesla released its Model S. Tesla, however, wasn’t the only company itching to take a bite out of Prius’ green-car market share.
In 2010-’11, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt hit the market, and around the 2017 mark, the Chevy Bolt went on sale, as did Hyundai’s gaggle of Ioniq hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and EVs. Undoubtedly, all have hurt the Prius, but outside of the Tesla Model 3, none have achieved Prius level of sales.
Yes, the Toyota’s trending sales line is bad, but the Prius is still currently outselling all but one of the competition – and none outside of the Model 3 are sporting hockey-stick trajectories.
With all of this, it’s important to note that sedan sales are struggling across the board, to the point that both GM and Ford slashed their car fleets in favor of SUVs. In fact, if we overlay Toyota Prius sales against the mega-seller Camry sedan and the company’s RAV4 SUV, it’s easy to see that SUVs are the new superstar of the automotive world.
This is, of course, only one case study, but GM and Ford have obviously reached the same conclusion.
What does any of this mean? Our take is that, yes, the Prius is struggling, but facelifts and modernized interior treatments aren’t going to stop this sales slump. Yes, the likes of the Bolt, Leaf, Model 3, and Ioniq are certainly aiding in the decline of the once mighty Prius, but at the same time, it’s not those vehicles that the Prius should be concerned with. In fact, we wouldn’t be shocked to see a downturn in Model 3 sales in the not too distant future.
Why? Drooping ICE sedan sales due to an increased popularity in SUVs is going to extend to the EV and hybrid world, and we fully expect the forthcoming competitively priced Tesla Model Y, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and even Toyota RAV4 Prime SUVs to become the shiniest green car toys of them all.
(Image courtesy Toyota.)
Like what you read? Follow us on Google News and like us on Facebook!
