First, Toyota decides it needs a U.S. luxury brand. It builds an S-Class killer, then repackages its mass market products for upmarket tastes. Then ToMoCo decides it needs a U.S. “youth brand.” It imports quirky, customizable, low-cost Japanese market vehicles; then sells them to older people (and repackages them for their in-house designers’ college professors). Now the world’s largest automaker’s talking [again] about launching a Prius brand. “You could have a series of derivatives under the Prius brand name that would allow you to market product at a much lower cost,” Jim Lentz, Toyota’s North American sales chief, told the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit. “There is a definite desire for us to do that.” Internally or externally? Or was this announcement simply designed to steal some thunder from GM’s Volt-shaped one hundredth birthday bash? After all, on the same day that GM said they wouldn’t make money on gen 1 of their plug-in electric – gas hybrid Hail Mary, Toyota said they’re aiming to sell 175k Priora stateside this year. Before the Ole Miss Prius factory comes on line. “Overall, Toyota aims to sell more than 1 million hybrids per year globally by early next decade, and would need to sell more than 600,000 hybrid vehicles of all types in the United States to meet that target, Lentz said. “To do that effectively, I think we need dedicated hybrids and I would prefer them under the Prius name,” said Lentz. So what happens to the hybrid Camry, Highlander, LS, etc.?
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Well, that’s a relief. Detractors will still be able to use the “Pious” moniker freely.
What worked really well for BMW is its “3-series brand”, under which you have convertibles, coupes, sedans, and wagons. Something like this would work well for Prius. However, Toyota would lose out if the Prius wasn’t a “toyota prius” anymore. People would probably stop thinking that a Sequoia magically gets better fuel economy because it’s made by the same company that produces the most famous hybrid.
As for the other Toyota hybrids, their sales haven’t exactly been stellar, so far.
Interesting…selling a series of vehicles under the Prius moniker.
Wasn’t there a brand that – back in the 80’s – attempted to use its “halo” nameplate to somehow magically rebrand most vehicles in its lineup?
Weren’t most of the other vehicles rather boring?
And didn’t this move come back to haunt this brand when consumers’ tastes changed?
Is history repeating itself?
I hope Toyota has a better outcome than that of GM’s Cutlass – er, I mean Oldsmobile – division…
On the other hand, it’s not an inconsistent idea for Toyota’s JDM distribution. In Japan, Toyotas have long been sold through a series of “sales channels”, catering to different audiences (much like GM brands, really). The Corolla was a sales channel all of its own, with Corolla-derived vehicles and similar models. A Prius sales-channel, or even a Prius brand, is a similar idea. Whether it would work well in the USA is a different matter.
Well, the Cutlass thing was silly — so many disparate cars under the same model name.
Now if Toyota reserves the “Prius” name for a variety of body styles (like BMW for the 3-series) and keeps the make name as Toyota, I don’t see a problem.
I usually reject the comparisons of Toyota to GM — usually, they seem motivated by jealousy of Toyota’s success, rather than by good judgment. But in this case, it’s an apt comparison.
This is a great way to kill the value of a badge. The Cutlass example is totally appropriate.
The Prius is supposed to be a quirky, ugly yet practical car. That’s what tells its owners and the world what it is.
To put that label on all sorts of cars takes away from the original and whatever marketing magic that it has. Just as you couldn’t produce a Mustang station wagon or a 911 minivan without tainting the legacy of the badge, it can’t be done with the Prius, either.
There is some limited potential for brand extension here, but it is limited. It should always go back to the core look, and not just be attached to whatever hybrid comes along. Perhaps a slightly shortened two-door version that retains the hatch or a wagon could work, but I’d keep it to a bare minimum.
The a separate Prius brand, Toyota will no longer have a monopoly on the green, fuel-efficient image it has worked so hard to earn over the past decade.
Bad move. DESTROY SCION! DESTROY THE ES350 and GX470!!!!
To put that label on all sorts of cars takes away from the original and whatever marketing magic that it has. Just as you couldn’t produce a Mustang station wagon or a 911 minivan without tainting the legacy of the badge, it can’t be done with the Prius, either.
Hm, I don’t see a Prius minivan, either. Point well taken.
It’s deja-vu all over again. – Yogi Berra
Label proliferation is killing GM. Et tu Toyota.
I, for one, think it’s a great idea.
What worked really well for BMW is its “3-series brand”
And in the opposite corner we have “Sebring”, which was once a sleek, desirable convertible. Then came the rebadged Mitsubishi “Sebring” coupe, then the renamed Stratus “Sebring” sedan, then came one of the ugliest cars to go on sale for years. You’d once jump for joy if you got a Sebring at the Hertz counter, now you’ll ask for anything but one.
In order for “Prius” to mean something, it has to REALLY mean something (no compromise fuel efficiency). A Corolla “Prius edition” will quickly erode any value of the name.
Toyota launching another brand? I wonder if this PR flack guy is the one who thought up the Scion brand as well? “Prius” is a car, not a brand. Prius would end up selling very efficient versions I guess of what is down at the Toyota dealer. Sounds like a way to cannibalize yourself, the comparisons to GM are easy to see, but what’s strange is that GM got to the top (so long ago) with five brands. Toyota has gotten to the top with basically one brand. Why Toyota would seek to imitate their biggest competitor’s biggest mistakes now is strange indeed. I wonder which Chinese company is going to be eating Toyota’s lunch twenty years from now?
Gardiner Westbound :
It’s deja-vu all over again. – Yogi Berra
Label proliferation is killing GM. Et tu Toyota.
+1
This people is slowly repeating each of the GM mistakes. However, it won’t take them 30-50 years to fall. 10-15 at best.
Marx says, that history, when happens the first time is tragedy, the second one, is comedy. Or something like that.
Thing is I don’t care. Toyota used to make some nice cars about 10 years ago. Now EVERYTHING I see from them (save for the FJ) are mehmobiles. Even interior parts materials has gone to hell.
I’ll throw out another GM sub-brand for comparison – Chevelle. You could get a coupe, convertible, sedan, wagon, or El Camino, but they were all Chevelles, with the same front ends and most of the same engine choices. Done like this, it could work.
My first car was a Chevelle Malibu 4-door that I got from my brother when he bought a Cutlass Calais. Interesting contrast.
I’ve wondered why Gm didn’t do different vehicles like this instead of rebranding (rebadging) the same vehicles as a product of multiple divisions (same car, different name brands).
See Aveo/G3, Cobalt/G5, etc.
I suppose I ought to accept the situation and look at them as different trim packages on the same vehicle. Never mind one is a Pontiac and the other is a Chevy.
I’ll learn to be happy with 5 different Priuses if they are different vehicles = minivan, roadster, pickup, delivery hatchback (paneled hatchback), sedan, etc.