Toyota Prius Price Drop: Toyota Prius Price Drops by $2,000

Toyota is joining the growing list of electric cars that are dropping their prices as it announced Wednesday that the Toyota Prius is now $2,000 off.

The Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback which used to be a compact sedan. It was rated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) as one of the cleanest vehicles sold in the U.S in terms of smog emissions. It was first sold in Japan in 1997 before it was brought worldwide in 2000. As of June 2013, there are 3 million units already sold.

While it is not an easy decision to drop the price due to the production costs spent on expensive batteries, Toyota had to do it as its competitors such Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Honda Fit EV had taken thousands off their already. The price drop was rolled out to boost their sales.

“We now have nearly two years of history with EV and plug-in hybrid sales, and the results have been disappointing at best,” said Eric Ibara, director of residual values at automotive pricing and information site Kelley Blue Book.

“A price reduction on the Prius Plug-In will help to raise the residual values on that vehicle and push it closer to the top of its segment,” he added.

Nissan Leaf took $6,400 off, Chevrolet Volt offered $5,000 off, while Honda Fit EV cut its monthly lease price by $130. After the $2,000 price drop, Toyota Prius is now selling at $29,990 plus delivery fee. The advanced version has a higher price cut which is $4,620.

Toyota reported that its Prius sales in September were 30 percent lower than the sales it had in 2012 of the same period. There were only 186,756 units sold for the three quarters this year while the plug-in version sold only 7,976 units.

The $2,000 price drop of the Toyota Prius may not be as big as the amount offered by its competitor but the company boasts that the car has more standard features. USA Today reported that heated seats, automatic climate control and the ability to now go long ways in EV mode to save more gas were added.