How many Priuses were sold in China in December 2016?

by "bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
Published 02/16/2017 at 08:08

Tags: smug alert ; prius ; hybrid ; china ; Sales Figures ; toyota
STARS: 0

No cheating, guess, don’t Google.

Replies (8)

"facw" (facw)
02/16/2017 at 08:13, STARS: 1

One.

Sorry read this already: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/02/who-bought-the-single-prius-that-was-sold-in-china-in-december/

"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
02/16/2017 at 08:30, STARS: 0

I said guess!

So, as far as I can tell, here’s what’s going on.

The sales figures for 2016 were an extremely steep drop-off - 53, 14, and 7 units in January, February, and March respectively, with one unit in May, one in December. Also note that Bloomberg estimated that about 700 Priuses were sold in China in 2015 - that’s roughly 58 a month, on par with the January sales figure. (It’s certainly not a good sales figure, though, and sales figures like that led VW to discontinue the Jetta Hybrid for the US market.)

The narrative that Bloomberg is pushing here is that the new Prius is an utter flop in China, that the new styling isn’t working, and that import taxes are making it too expensive to buy. However, I’m certain that this is the wrong narrative.

The Bloomberg article mentions that production in China stopped in 2015. Note that the changeover to the Gen 4 Prius in Japan was December 2015.

Also note the image I used for this article - it’s of a Gen 3 Prius. In fact, that image was taken directly from FAW Toyota Motor Sales, and Toyota’s Chinese site doesn’t even mention the existence of the Gen 4 Prius, as far as I can tell. Oh, and the pricing info that Bloomberg quotes? It’s for the Gen 3 Prius, which is made in China by FAW - no import taxes there.

This wasn’t a case of a new model flopping - this is a case of a new model not even being introduced . The one car they sold in December? That one had been sitting on the dealer lot for basically a year.

"facw" (facw)
02/16/2017 at 08:34, STARS: 0

My guess was very accurate on account of knowing the answer. But yeah, obviously the decline is due to the fact any new Prius sales would be hit with big tariffs. I suppose it’s not impossible someone would pay those, but I agree that it looks a lot like old inventory being cleared.

"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
02/16/2017 at 08:36, STARS: 0

they want thier smog

"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
02/16/2017 at 08:50, STARS: 0

To be entirely fair, the Corolla/Levin (that’s due to a quirk of how Chinese-market versions of Toyotas (as well as Volkswagens) are produced - the Corolla and Levin are 99% identical, they’re just produced by different Chinese companies for Toyota - and, yes, it’s the same Corolla as the US Corolla sedan, seeing how many different cars in different markets are called “Corolla”) are available in a hybrid version (same powertrain as the Gen 3 Prius), and AFAIK that’s selling fine.

"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
02/16/2017 at 09:26, STARS: 0

7. ‘Cause China don’t give a fuk ‘bout pollution.

"PotbellyJoe and 42 others" (potbellyjoe)
02/16/2017 at 11:33, STARS: 0

Poor sales? Does it have to do with the price of these eggs in China?

"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
02/17/2017 at 04:07, STARS: 0

one?