Toyota offers incentives on hybrid Prius

Toyota Offers Incentives On Hybrid Prius

TORRANCE, Calif., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Corp. has begun offering incentives on its Prius hybrid because U.S. sales of the once-hot car cooled off, the automaker says.

"We want to make sure that the hybrid system becomes mainstream. We have to start marketing the car," Toyota Motor North America President Jim Press said.

After watching the Prius fly out of dealer showrooms the past six years, with many selling for more than the sticker price, Toyota now offers zero-percent financing and lease deals because supply has caught up with demand, The Chicago Tribune reported.

The sales downturn reflects how the popularity of hybrids remains tied very closely to the price of gasoline, rather than a broad change in the public mind-set about what kinds of cars, and engines, people desire, the newspaper said.

Toyota said dealers had a 59-day supply of the first mass-produced hybrids, based on January sales. Ward's AutoInfoBank estimated a 59-day supply totaled 19,000 cars.

As recently as October, dealers only had enough in stock to last a few days.

The sales incentives end Feb. 28, Toyota said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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