Toyota is apparently planning to continue production and sales of the current model Prius for its domestic market even when the all-new 2011 Prius goes on sale later this year. Toyota says it will keep the old Prius as a low-cost option for value-minded consumers – and also to keep pace with the less-expensive Honda Insight.
Japan’s Nikkei business newspaper said that Toyota will decontent the current Prius as a way to further reduce its price to separate it from the 2011 Prius.
The cheaper Prius will likely start at under 2 million yen (about $22,200), about 300,000 yen less than its current price.
Toyota didn’t comment to Inside Line’s request for more information. It’s unclear whether Toyota would continue selling the current Prius outside of Japan, but sales in emerging markets and even North America are a possibility given the potentially low price a decontented Prius could command.
