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Prius: Leading a Wave of Hybrids

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Case for Chapter 3 PRIUS: Leading a Wave of Hybrids Americans love their cars. In a country where SUVs sell briskly and the biggest sport is stockcar racing, you wouldn’t expect a small, hybrid, sluggish vehicle to sell well. Despite such expectations, Toyota successfully introduced the Prius in 2000, and Honda introduced the Insight. The Prius, whose name means “ to go before,” literally flew out of dealer showrooms, even if consumers weren’t quite sure how to pronounce it ( it’s PREE-us, not PRY-US). Given Toyota’s success with the Prius and Honda’s with the Insight, other automotive companies have plans to introduce hybrids of some sort. Hybrid vehicles have both a gas engine and an electric motor. When starting up or at very low …show more content…

Such ads are based on ambiguity where the headline attracts attention because its meaning is not clear. The consumer must process the information in the ad in order to interpret it. The result is higher ad impact and longer ad recall. Toyota also took advantage of the environmental appeal by sending out green seed cars shaped like Toyota’s logo to prospective buyers on Earth Day. They also wrapped some Priuses in green and gave away cars at Earth Day events. While $ 15 million in advertising may sound like a lot, it’s really just a drop in the bucket compared with the $ 190 million that Toyota spent overall to market cars and trucks in 2002. For the first 6 months of introduction, Toyota sold close to 5,000 cars, which is quite good given the newness of the technology, the dull design , and the lack of muscle. Much of the Prius’s success is based on correct identification of the target market. Many early purchasers were attracted by the technology, began to modify cars, and shared their experiences through chat rooms such as Priusenvy.com. The object of attachment was the computer system. One owner in Philadelphia was able to add cruise control (an option not offered by Toyota) by wiring in a few switches in the car’s computer system. The founder of the Priusenvy. com Web site figured out how to use the car’s dashboard display screen to show

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