With only 3,000 new Priuses per year, is it still a "image project"?

"We have done our utmost efforts, including suppliers and dealers." On February 22, FAW Toyota's third-generation Prius was listed in the country at a price of 229,800 to 269,800 yuan. For this price, FAW Toyota executives Tian Tianming, general manager of the company, said that it is not easy to realize such a price. While the second-generation Prius was fully optimized, the third-generation Prius achieved a reduction of 30,000 yuan. "Of course, we will continue to work hard to reduce costs through scale and hope to be in line with foreign countries."

It is reported that despite the brand name of domestic cars, the localization rate of the third-generation Prius is still very low. Since many parts and components are imported and assembled only at home, they are basically the same in terms of cost and tax rate as imported cars. In spite of this, many consumers are still not satisfied with the price of the third-generation Prius. This dissatisfaction is more about the "love-hate tangle."

Because of concern, so picky; because like, so tangled. And for the Prius, it has already taken a good first step. It is reported that the third-generation Prius has fully optimized the hybrid power system. Unlike the 1.5L engine used by the second-generation Prius, the third-generation Prius is equipped with a newly developed 1.8L engine, with hybrid power technology. The further improvement not only improved the power performance, but also reduced the fuel consumption further from 4.7 liters/hundred kilometers to 4.3 liters/hundred kilometers. At the same time, in order to allow Chinese consumers to feel more comfortable buying the Prius, FAW Toyota also introduced a warranty policy of “three years for the entire vehicle/100,000 kilometers and 5 years for the HV battery/200,000 kilometers”.

However, for the third-generation Prius, the competition with the Lexus CT200h at the same door appears inevitable. In October of last year, Lexus CT200h went on the market with a minimum price of 279,000 yuan and won a good applause from the market. Since its launch, CT200h has sold more than 1,000 vehicles per month and has been in short supply. So where does the Prius advantage compare to Lexus, where the value of the brand is a bit higher? Tian smart said in an interview with reporters that the new Prius was also referring to CT200h when pricing, and tried to reduce costs in all aspects. "More importantly, the new Prius has a higher configuration than the CT200h."

It is reported that the Prius, which was born in 1997, is the world's first hybrid electric vehicle production model and has sold more than 2.5 million vehicles globally. However, after its entry into China in 2005, it has encountered dissatisfaction and has only 4,000 vehicles in China. Compared with traditional gasoline vehicles, high prices are one of the important reasons that restrict Prius sales in China. To this end, it made concessions on the pricing issue of the third-generation Prius, avoiding the new Prius to make the same mistakes.

“At the moment, the new Prius has no rival in the market.” Su Hui, a senior expert in the automotive industry, said that Toyota is very smart and has seized a good time. Coincidentally, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the “12th Five-Year Development Plan for New Materials Industry” on the same day. It is estimated that the cumulative production and sales volume of new energy vehicles in China will exceed 500,000 by 2015, and the energy-based power battery module will need 15 billion watt-hours. /year. The State Council's recently released “Industrial Transformation and Upgrade Plan (2011-2015)” also pointed out that the development path of new energy vehicles is “accelerating the development of new energy vehicles such as pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles,” and “support the development of new energy vehicles. General Hybrid Technology R&D."

It can be said that these are all making a comeback for Toyota's new energy vehicles and building confidence in the Chinese market. However, before the encouragement and subsidy policy is implemented, the third-generation Prius may still be in a situation of “being applause”. “At present, the Prius’s production capacity is very limited, with an annual capacity of only 3,000 vehicles, so we hope that it can achieve a high sales target. In fact, it needs further efforts.” Tian Ming said that because of new energy vehicles in China, there is a gradual The development process, and FAW Toyota's grasp of investment rhythm are generally more conservative and more scientific. "With the development of China's new energy vehicles, as market demand continues to increase, we will make appropriate adjustments to meet market demand."

The industry believes that the annual production of only 3,000 vehicles, it can be said that the new Prius is still an "image project." However, Toyota Motor Corp.’s deputy director Akira Nakayama also revealed recently that with the advancement of Toyota’s Changshu R&D center and the acceleration of localization, the cost of the domestic hybrid powertrain part is expected to be reduced by half. And this "future" may be 2015. By then, Toyota hybrid vehicles equipped with domestically produced assemblies will be very competitive, and this is also an independent brand and other competitors can not be taken lightly.