According to local newspapers in Japan, Toyota has received more than 20,000 orders for the 2010 Toyota Prius, which goes on sale in Japan in mid-May. Chunichi and Nikkei both cited an unnamed Toyota official saying that the company expects that number to reach 40,000 before the cars launch – a pace that could allow the 2010 Prius to overtake its Honda Insight rival.
The 2010 Toyota Prius vs. the 2010 Honda Insight battle has been going on for a couple of months now. Just recently, Toyota told its Japanese dealers that pricing for the 2010 Prius will start at 2.05 million yen ($20,750 USD), undercutting the current Prius which starts at 2.331 million yen ($23,590 USD).
The 2010 Honda Insight is priced from 1.89 million yen the first hybrid to be sold for less than 2 million yen.
Honda has sold 18,000 units of the Insight in the hybrids first month on the market – that’s significantly more than the automakers original target of 5,000 models. Toyota expects to sell 400,000 of the new Prius annually.
2010 Toyota Prius:
- By: The Daily Auto Editor
Source: Reuters
