Toyota: Katrina drove up hybrid demand
Toyota U.S. exec: Prius inventory now counted in hours, not days.
September 23, 2005; Posted: 11:55 a.m. EDT (1555 GMT)
DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp. has seen a rise in demand for hybrid
vehicles in the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as
consumers seek more mileage out of $3-gallon gasoline, a top official said
on Thursday.
"At the end of last month, we had a 20-hour supply of the Prius (hybrid
sedan)," Jim Press, head of Toyota's U.S. operations, said at the Reuters
Autos Summit, held in Detroit. "We no longer count in days."
Japan's top auto maker, a pioneer in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, has
enjoyed booming sales in the world's biggest car market thanks to the
popularity of its hybrid models, now also offered in the sport utility
vehicle segment through the Highlander and Lexus RX400h.
"Our hybrid SUVs allow customers to have their SUVs and be responsible at
the same time, and we've seen (demand) really accelerate since Katrina,"
Press, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said, adding that the waiting
list was growing for its hybrid SUVs.
"It isn't that people aren't buying SUVs -- they've shifted their segment
preference into mid-size and small SUVs, and now into hybrid SUVs."
Press's comments come on the heels of Ford Motor Co.'s announcement a day
earlier for plans to boost its total hybrid output tenfold in five years as
it hopes to win back lost market share in its home turf.
Ford, recently overtaken by Toyota as the world's second-biggest automaker,
plans to build about 250,000 hybrid vehicles globally -- roughly what its
Japanese rival aims to sell this year.
Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Padilla told Reuters this week that a
shortage of specialized hybrid components was holding back its volumes
partly due to the "predatory" approach taken by some Japanese automakers.
(Click here for that story.)
Press disputed that view.
"I can't imagine that. Last time I looked, the (Ford) Escape (hybrid SUV)
didn't have a 20-hour supply," he said.
Despite the growing popularity of hybrids in the United States, they still
account for just 1.3 percent of the light vehicle market, partly due to the
extra thousands of dollars consumers pay over the price of conventional
gasoline engines.
Press said those price premiums would come down to as little as $1,000,
probably in the next decade, as per-unit production costs fall with growing
volumes. He noted that a hybrid Highlander now costs an extra $3,800 to
$3,900.
Toyota officials said the waiting list for its hybrid models was averaging
"a few months," and that Toyota expected to sell around 150,000 units in the
United States in 2006, excluding the Lexus GS hybrid and others in the
pipeline.
Volumes are expected to balloon with the production of the hybrid version of
the Camry sedan -- America's top-selling car -- starting late next year.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/09/23/bc.autos.summit.toyota.hybrids.reut/index.html
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