US: Toyota introduces incentives for the Prius

Toyota puts first incentives on the Prius

Ernest Bastien, vice president of US operations for Toyota , says the OEM has recently added incentives to its Prius hybrid hatchback in an attempt to boost sales by 50% in 2007, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Bastien says the company will offer interest-free loans for 24 months and three-year leases worth US$219 a month. The incentives, which began last month, will continue indefinitely, he stated. He also dismissed suggestions that the company has introduced incentives due to weakening demand.
The 2007 model Prius has a base price of US$22,175, excluding formerly popular options such as a navigation system and rear view camera. Tom Libby, a research analyst with J D Power & Associates, says that in January 2007, the average Prius sale price fell to US$25,340 from a peak of US$26,473 in May 2006.
The report claims that additional manufacturing capacity in Japan has helped Toyota to increase its Prius sales target to at least 160,000 in 2007, up from 106,971 in 2006. Toyota has a sales goal of 430,000 hybrids worldwide in 2007 and aims to sell one million hybrids by early next decade.
Speaking to dealers at the recent National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas, Don Esmond, senior vice president of US sales for Toyota, said that the company aims to sell 260,000 hybrid vehicles in the US in 2007.
Toyota and Lexus' share of the US hybrid market in 2006 was 76% followed by Honda with 15% and Ford Motor Company on 8.9%. The Prius is already Toyota's third best-selling car in the US behind the Camry and Corolla, both of which are locally built.

Source: [url=http://www.automotiveworld.com/AEA/content.asp?contentid=58154]Automotive World[/url]