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Automaker boosts base price of efficient car as gas prices rise
By Alan Ohnsman
Bloomberg News
Published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
Toyota's Prius hybrid, the most fuel-efficient car sold in the U.S., is getting harder to find on dealer lots and commanding higher prices when customers do.
It can take up to two weeks to receive delivery of the hybrid-electric vehicle, said Mark Harding, general manager of Toyota of Santa Monica, in Santa Monica, Calif.
''We've got some in stock at the moment, but we've also got a waiting list,'' he said. ''Supply is very tight.''
U.S. inventories of Priuses are limited by production capacity in Japan, which must be shared with Asia and Europe, said John Hanson, a Toyota spokesman in Torrance, Calif.
''This is a special vehicle, and as fuel prices keep rising, it gets more special,'' he said. ''Right now, U.S. customers can get a Prius. Next month or the month after that, it's tough to say.''
U.S. dealer supplies of Priuses have dropped to the lowest level in two years, allowing Toyota, the world's second-largest automaker, to pare incentives and raise prices, said Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman in Torrance.
Prius sales jumped 67 percent last month.
''There's really no other car that's been out as long as Prius selling at this kind of volume with little or no incentive support,'' said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with the Web site Edmunds.com. ''Gas prices certainly help.''
Toyota said on May 2 it planned to boost the base price of the Prius $400, or 1.8 percent, this month.
Currently, the Prius sells for $25,274
on average, $869 more than a year ago, according to J.D. Power & Associates, a marketing data firm owned by New York-based McGraw-Hill Cos.
Prius demand is among this year's few U.S. bright spots for Toyota. The company posted a 28 percent drop in profit for the quarter ended March 31 on weak U.S. sales and a stronger yen.
Toyota's U.S. sales, down 3.3 percent this year through April, are heading for the first annual decrease since 1995. By contrast, Prius deliveries are up 23 percent in 2008, to 64,664 vehicles. Already the world's best-selling hybrid, Prius was No. 8 in U.S. passenger-car sales through April, its highest ranking.
Dealers' supplies aren't likely to rise this year, as Prius production is constrained by the availability of battery packs, Michels said.
''That supply of batteries has to be shared with other products, like Camry, which is also up a lot this year,'' he said. The hybrid Camry sedan posted a 37 percent jump in U.S. deliveries through April, to 21,479 cars, based on Toyota figures.
The Prius gets 46 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, the best fuel economy of any model rated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Sales of hybrids, including the Prius, Camry and Honda's Civic Hybrid, are up 45 percent this year to a record 125,087 vehicles, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
Toyota's Prius hybrid, the most fuel-efficient car sold in the U.S., is getting harder to find on dealer lots and commanding higher prices when customers do.
Get the full article here.
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