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posted: May. 15, 2008 @ 2:21p
Prius is a hot in demand car now. In the way of no haggle, Costco also has no-haggle preset pricing with affiliated dealers.
From article:
Toyota said May 2 it planned to boost the base price of the Prius $400, or 1.8 percent, this month.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=ahXAyNA7my1E&refer=japan
May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.'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, California.
``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, California.
``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.
Toyota cut the value of sales promotions on the five-year- old model to $123 per vehicle in April, from $1,471 in March 2007, said Jesse Toprak, an analyst at Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica-based automotive Web site for consumers. Prius sales jumped 67 percent last month, fed by record gasoline prices.
Cost of Fuel
``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,'' Toprak said. ``Gas prices certainly help.''
Regular unleaded gasoline climbed to a record $3.73 a gallon yesterday, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
Toyota said May 2 it planned to boost the base price of the Prius $400, or 1.8 percent, this month.
Currently, 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, based in Toyota City, Japan, posted a 28 percent drop in profit last week for the quarter ended March 31 on weak U.S. sales and a stronger yen. President Katsuaki Watanabe predicts a 6.4 percent decline in North American sales for the year ending next March.
Best Seller
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. 9 in U.S. passenger-car sales through April, its highest ranking.
Incentives for the Prius that were eliminated include low- interest rate financing, discounts on accessories, and above book-value offers for customer trade-in vehicles, Toprak said. Now there's no incentive support for the model, Toyota spokesman Michels said.
Prius inventory is at the lowest level in the U.S. since 2006 as rising gasoline prices and a sluggish economy stoke demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Two years ago, sales were boosted by U.S. income tax credits of as much as $3,150 for purchases. California buyers also were able to use the cars for unrestricted access to carpool lanes. Neither enticement is available now.
Cars on Lots
U.S. dealers had a seven-day Prius supply as of April 30, said Paul Zajac, industry data manager for Ward's Automotive in Southfield, Michigan. Toyota estimated its inventory at eight days, including dealer stock and cars in transit across the U.S., said Sona Iliffe-Moon, a spokeswoman in Torrance. That's down from the peak supply of 59 days in January 2007 when Toyota announced its first round of Prius incentives, Zajac said.
The company curtailed the promotions in mid-2007, Toprak said. Analysts consider a 60-day inventory as the industry standard.
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 Hybrid, 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 figures reported by Toyota.
Fuel Economy
The car 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. Toyota's similar-sized Corolla, a conventionally powered vehicle and the best-selling small car in the U.S., gets 29 miles per gallon.
Sales of hybrids, including the Prius, Camry and Honda Motor Co.'s Civic Hybrid, are up 45 percent this year to a record 125,087 vehicles, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A redesigned Prius may be shown at the 2009 Detroit auto show, Toyota's Watanabe said in January. Toyota hasn't said when the new version will go on sale.
Toyota's American depositary receipts fell 26 cents to $101.35 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 4.5 percent in 2008, compared with a 7.8 percent drop for the 19-stock Bloomberg World Auto Manufacturers Index.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 13, 2008 16:21 EDT
