Toyota gets 20,000 orders for the 2010 Prius, expects 40,000 before launch

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