Toyota Prius Keeps Workers in Plants During Weekends

Japanese manufacturer Toyota is once again boosting production at its Prius production plant following strong demand for the hybrid. All workers will come back to work during days off on two Saturdays in September, the company said, citing the growing demand for its Prius as the main reason. Just-auto.com writes that Prius posted increasing sales thanks to government tax breaks and incentives offered for fuel efficient models.

Toyota Prius, which is the fifth best-selling model in the United States' Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) scheme, recorded the highest sales in Japan last month.

Furthermore, the Japanese manufacturer recently announced that it might not honor all orders because its battery supplier Panasonic is not able to cope with the high demand for the hybrid. Panasonic is now planning to ramp up battery production to 1 million batteries per year by mid 2010.

"The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota Senior Managing Director, said. "Unfortunately, the batteries are not catching up with demand. Production of the batteries needs to be increased in order for our production to go up."

Still, in case you're living in Australia, you can purchase a Prius with no delay as officials are claiming inventories are still OK.

"At this stage, from our point of view, dealer supplies aren’t affected," Mike Breen, Toyota Australia Public Relations Manager, said earlier this month. "Sales of the Prius in Australia are going quite well, and while specific figures haven’t come in yet - they’re due today - we can say that it’s doing well."