The Toyota Prius hybrid was the best selling car in Japan last year, a position it has sat on for three years running. A total of 252,528 units of the Prius were sold in 2011, assisted by strong sales of the Prius Alpha, an MPV version of the car that debut in May.
It’ll take a brave man to bet against the Prius retaining the position this year. This is because the range is further strengthened by the Prius c variant, a smaller and more affordable Prius. The Prius c has been teased on UMW Toyota’s website, with full specs, and at the Avanza launch on Wednesday, bosses said it will be launched next month in Malaysia.
Honda’s Fit (we know it as Jazz) was the second best selling car with 207,882 units, up from fourth spot in the previous year’s rankings, while Suzuki’s Wagon R minicar was third with 160,439 units.
2011 was a difficult year for the industry in Japan, which was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March, so total sales were down by 20%. Local production suffered, and imports took advantage – sales of foreign cars crossed the 10% mark for the first time ever last year.
Of the foreign brands, Volkswagen sold the most for the 12th straight year with 50,635 units, an increase of 8.4%. Other top foreign marques were BMW (34,195 cars, up 5.5%) and Mercedes-Benz.
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the japanese have a very high awareness on the environment. they buy prius as part of their contribution to reduce CO2 emission.
malaysians still think prius is all about fuel saving. so sad.
So sad that you do not know that when you produce the batteries, you will generate extra CO2 emission as well.
Like most say, you only see the things on the surface.
For those people who thinks prius is all about fuel saving, sadly, they are right.
Do you really think NiMH or Lithium based rechargeable batteries are bad? Then why do you use mobiles phones, laptops, cameras or devices that use rechargeable batteries? And what do you do with the batteries if they die? Do you even recycle them or just simply throw away which they eventually end up in landfills? Do you know what are the 3 Rs and do you recycle normal recyclable household waste?
http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/nickel-hybrid-batteries-t1700.html
Yes hybrids produce slightly more emissions from the manufacturing process of NiMH or Lithium based batteries. But they are all OFFSET once they’re on the road and used for some time because they produce twice or 3 times less emissions when travelling. So enough of the battery argument please. If you really have sources just show us.
Most normal cars have the real leather seats option, I’m not sure if it’s really from animals but do you think that is good? Honda Insight don’t offer any leather option at all for the seats, because they want to be as green/humane as possible even for the manufacturing process.
I know nothing appeals to everyone, not even normal cars. You don’t have to like them but you don’t have to condemn it.
The famous and rich super-star actor/director/comedian from Hong Kong, Steven Chow/??? RIDE A BICYCLE, so is the Taiwanese musician Wang Lee Hom/???. I don’t think they have cars. ACTION SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS………!!
O cannot display chinese characters, I didn’t know that =.=
Hybrid vehicles popularity is mainly due to car commercials promoting hybrids and giving the impression that driving a hybrid is equal to doing something good for the planet, when in reality it just amounts to doing something less bad.
The alternative which is diesel vehicles is as efficient as comparably-sized hybrids and cheaper, mainly because of their efficient engines and lighter weight.
These however may be a step in the right direction but they are not the solution to the challenge posed by climate change. The real green technology will be cars powered by fuel cells.
However ultimately user-friendly and accessible mass transit systems are the only true solutions to sustainable mobility.
Actually I don’t think it’s just about saving the planet or ‘environment’ but most importantly OURSELVES/HUMANS. If we don’t reduce all emissions now future humans would really burn to death if not our generation, due to the world temperature increase…..
I hope most of us can try to be responsible for our own kind…………………………..
diesel still pollute the air, compare to civic hybrid and prius which switch off their engines during stationary. prius even move wtih battery powered motor at low speed below 40kph.
Diesel exhaust emission includes Carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), Nitrogen oxides (NOx), nitric oxide (NO) and a small fraction of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Not to forget Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and Diesel particulate matter (DPM),
Prius for example produce ZERO emissions during stationary ie traffic light stop and traffic jams
and IMHO the japanese has high awareness and evident during the earthquake / tsunami incident in 2011 – they still que up to buy food and groceries… malaysians will never do that.
Malaysians still have too much to learn……………………….. Hopefully we’ll be there too, in 50 years time…………………………………………………….
Wow…. generalization based on a sales performance of a car.
If their fuel price as cheap as Msia, some of them may not buy Prius.
Since their fuel price 3-4 times than Msia, Prius is the best option to save money.
The other factor of course contribution for the environment..
can somebody pls CKD the Suzuki’s Wagon R minicar ??
Should ask why our Suzuki dealer here.. Why bring in the Alto, but not Kei Car or Wagon RR… If price wise, may even beat the Myvi out!
Gomen needs to protect ‘locar k car perodua ‘ maa.. If best selling car in japan syzuki wagin r sold in malaysia.. Then only ah soo n college girl will buy perodua
Dear Mr. Peyno (or should I say Penuss),
Not everybody in here has that Protong Juara Refrigerator taste like you. Or that Van Roti CFE they recently launched.
Please understand.
Owh yeah. I don’t drive a Perodua. But at least they’re better 100X times than your Refrigerator Van.
Thank you!
The Prius deserves to be in its position. It remains to be toyotas most technologically advanced product. Hope in times to come Malaysians will have the Japanese mindset too and buy the Prius c and Prius instead of the outdated vios and avanza both of which are rather crappy
Where is passo , boon malaysian ah beng’s favorite?? See.. Urban taste is differ with malaysia kampung taste.. Prrrffthhhhh
prius c will be a nice car for doing sales n support. easy parking for its size and save more petrol since smaller than prius and with 1.5cc engine. of cos reducing CO2 too.
Who said PRIUS design ain’t UGLY. It is damned UGLY but much much better than the Multipla. After 5 years, battery replacement cost quite high.
The Prius battery is NOT an issue. In the United States, the Prius’s battery is warrantied for 10 years / 150,000 miles. If they had been failing after 5 years, Toyota would be losing A LOT of money right now.
Outside of owner abuse (i.e. car accidents), there has been virtually no failures of the Prius battery, and the Prius has been around since 1997.
On Paul Tan’s archive in 2010 the Prius battery replacement is RM 11,500.00
http://paultan.org/2010/11/22/honda-civic-hybrid-and-toyota-prius-battery-replacement-costs-revealed/
The warranty is 3 years. You might expect such as temperature play some role on the battery life expectation. I still think it can go 5 years, its just such that you wont get a replacement for free after 5 years. Therefore, I would expect informed buyers to add the 11K price on top of the residual price of a 5 year old Prius.
As I did a calculation on costs for Prius C, it would take 700,000 km of fuel saving to match the price of a RM 70k Vios. This is based on the published FC.
the last gen prius was vile but the current one feels rather lovable
Prius too have a great sucess in USA market ranked 21st with sales of 140928 units dispite the supply shortage due to March Tsunami in Japan.
I hope UMW would consider bring in Prius Alpha the 7 seater Hybrid MPV.
Once these Hybrid vehicle reach economy of scale, i am sure the battery price would greatly reduced just like handphone battery.
Passo, boon not in the list??? Only laku in kampung bolehland malaysia.. Prrrffthhh
meh
am I missing something here..Prius does save fuel…and battery cost like any product
becomes cheaper over time. I cant say the same thing about fuel…Now is 1.90 wait
till it rises above 2.00. Imagine the saving from fuel over 5 years. It will be more
expensive than buying a new battery after 5 years… Again Prius is nothing new it has been around in masses in Japan & US for the last 15 Years !!!!. Unfortunately in the bolehland…we are behind in what is happening around the world….thanks to car tax and lack of foresight….
Here in Japan, the main factor for the high sales of Prius (and hybrid cars in general) is because the ‘car tax’ is waived. In May each year, car owner is required to pay the so-called car tax and the fee depends on the cc. For 1.8, the fee is about Y40,000 per annum. My car, a Wagon R (yes, 3rd on the sales ranking) will make me poorer Y8,000 yearly due to the tax itself.
Honda Fit also has a hybrid version which contributes to the high sales. There are many models with green siblings here such as Estima, Camry, Alphard, Crown, Harrier, Civic, Freed, Fuga, to name a few. Think about the substantial savings one would benefit from a high capacity engine.
Japanese concious about environment? Hmm.. maybe, maybe not.
Japanese encouraged by the government to go green? That’s more like it.