Basically, the US Prius manufactured at the Tupelo, Miss. production facility was discontinued due to the decreasing demand for hybrid vehicles which, in its turn, was caused by the descending trend the gasoline prices adopted since summer. According to figures provided by the aforementioned source, Toyota's United States sales were down 32 percent in November.
Toyota already started a strong cost-cutting plan supposed to help the company maintain the current production level, with job cuts, delays of the new launches and R&D costs reductions among the first measures to be applied in the January 2009. Moreover, the Japanese manufacturer may also reduce salaries and bonus payments for directors, Autonews said, but no decision has been announced yet.
Toyota's Prius sold pretty well in 2007 and the first months of 2008, with more than 16,500 units delivered last year. However, sales were almost halved this year, with 8,660 Prius models delivered in the United States, mostly due to the decreasing gasoline prices.
On the other hand, Toyota has pretty big plans for the near future as the Japanese manufacturer intends to expand vehicle capacity by approximately 55 percent in China during the next few years. Moreover, new production facilities in India and Brazil are due to be built in 2009 while a special joint venture plant for manufacturing hybrid batteries is scheduled for 2010.
Google News