Will the Toyota PRIUS be a hit or flop in the Phil auto market?

**shadow3616931** · June 24th, 2009 09:15 AM

We should know first the life span of its battery and its cost. We should also study what its real fuel consumption when aircon is on because we are living in a tropical country thus aircon is used almost all the time even at night making its combustion engine to work all the time the car is being used. As a result, the electric motor is almost useless and the battery as well. How would someone buy an SUV priced vehicle and refuse to use its aircon. Its a flop!...

**roberto_minosa** · June 24th, 2009 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by tidus1203

Yep saludo ako sa Hyundai. They are the only car company in this country that offers budget cars powered with CRDi diesel engines...

You mean run on vegetable oil? I think may modification pa ata kailangan gawin pero yeah I have seen it on TV people using vegetable oil (from fast food restaurants) to fuel their diesel engines.

Yep, veggie oil

. Even if modifying the Accent will cost more than PhP100k, it's still more practical than buying a 2-million peso car with a battery pack that will die in 15 years.

And let's say the Accent dies in 10 years...I still have cash to buy a new one!

**daimengrui** · June 24th, 2009 12:22 PM

would not succeed... not unless there's a gov't incentive of tax credit (like in the US), i.e. waived LTO 5yrs?

**wavecxs** · June 24th, 2009 12:34 PM

I voted "it will be a flop". Im thinking in the middle of so-so and flop but with 2.2M price its a hard sell. Me thinks the ford focus tdci is a better option if one really plans on driving for economy (or perhaps a vios or a jazz). As others have said, it will take 15+ years to get back that 1M++ price difference in gas savings (if there is any). By that time, I wonder how the battery pack will hold up. Im not so optimistic.

1.5M price tag would change the everthing though.

**niky** · June 24th, 2009 12:49 PM

While you can run an Accent on Straight vegetable oil with the proper filtering and water-separation kit, you're looking at valve problems and oil dilution problems down the line, as well as possible injector damage due to the different lubricity and consistency of the fuel. This might add, say, an extra 150k-200k pesos in costs every 100-150,000 kilometers... which would offset the lower cost of veggie oil, somewhat. Veggie oil makes more sense on older cars and older CRDi systems... though it might be possible to run a CRDi without complication, there are more risks to it than running a regular diesel on veggie oil... old diesels don't have finicky injectors... the only problem is oil dilution... and even then, most old diesels get their oil dirty very early due to their inaccurate injection, so veggie oil is an improvement.

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The Prius AC runs off the battery. It's an electric compressor. But AC use in traffic can, and does, drain the battery over time.You can expect lows of 15-17 km/l in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. The Prius is most efficient in moderate to light traffic, where you can build up momentum that translates into recovered power for regenerative braking. In these conditions, the Prius can hit 20+ km/l compared to 16 km/l for a similar sized diesel (Focus). In slow traffic, you won't be in regenerative mode long enough to take advantage of it.

This is the 1.5 liter Prius, by the way. The 1.8 that they're selling now will likely be more thirsty than that in stop-and-go traffic.

**swordsman** · June 24th, 2009 01:31 PM

i guess flop...di naman ganun karami yong "rich and stupid" sa bansa natin.

**G-daddy** · June 25th, 2009 11:57 AM

only P600,000 goes to import duties, VAT and excise tax.

That means that even if government waives the taxes, it still leaves us with a pricetag of P1.65M.

Still ridiculously high.

Also, in the US, the batteries need replacing at around 5,000 miles. And I don't think it's free.

So along with the ridiculously high pricetag here, I hope TMPC makes the replacement totally free. But knowing the Tys, I highly doubt it. I think they're going to charge an arm, a leg and your left nut for it.

That's one more bad point about hybrids that people seem to miss the point completely. They say you buy a Prius to save the environment by cutting down on carbon emissions. Well and good. Except that the factory manufacture-disposal-repeat cycle of those batteries are even more toxic to the environment, and carries long term effects even worse and more imminent than carbon monoxide.

So that hip and chic "green" image that TMP is counting on to lure (millionaire) buyers? That logic is flawed as well.

This Prius will definitely be a flop.

**Vioser** · June 25th, 2009 03:42 PM

it will be a hit!!! if you money... hahaha!!!

**wsa 400** · June 27th, 2009 10:57 AM

Sales performance will be so-so. The first 100 units will probably be bought as Toyota projected but I don't think it will pick-up after that. Bringing down taxes imposed on the car and subsidizing part of the cost is the key to attract buyers. In California, the top of the line Prius with the solar panels on the sunroof that powers the ventilation system and full-leather seats is around $27,270 roughly 1.32M pesos at current exchange rate. Buyers get an income tax rebate to further entice buyers. If the government wishes to promote hybrids maybe it could look at how other countries do it.