Toyota Indus Motors Fails To Sell A Single Toyota Prius In Pakistan!
To date, Toyota has sold over 5 million Prius’ worldwide, making it by far, the most successful hybrid car on the planet. In Pakistan, used imported Toyota Prius has been enjoying constant success now for over five years. To expand model lineup and to gain benefit from used Prius reception in the country, Toyota Indus launched the third-generation Prius in December 2013 for Pakistani Market. Upon launch, Toyota Indus announced that it will import it in the form of completely built units (CBUs) without expressing any plans to manufacture it in the future. Toyota Indus placed a price tag of PKR 4.5 million on the new Prius which received widespread criticism from both the public and the media as used imported Toyota Prius was being sold across the country for around PKR 2.5 million at the time of launch.
Also Read: Toyota Prius Buyer’s Guide
According to multiple reports at the time of its release in Pakistan, Toyota internally had a target of selling twenty-five Prius’ every year. A goal of twenty-five units seemed attainable back then, despite the price. However, now Parvez Ghias, CEO of Toyota Indus told BR that they have failed to sell a single unit of Prius out of the total seventeen which were imported, self-explaining its unchanged price since launch.
“We produced 17 Prius cars, not one of them got picked. Used Prius is considered better and cheaper than new Prius. Even within Toyota, there are versions of Prius, we are looking to see if there are any smaller car hybrids CBU that we could bring.”
It’s surprising to see that despite the weak sales (sorry no sale) of CBU Prius, Toyota is still interested in importing smaller hybrids into the country. However, it must be noted that Prius C/Aqua comes with a smaller 1.5-liter engine as opposed to Toyota Prius’ 1.8-liter, so it might be possible that Toyota is eyeing a tax reduction to introduce a cheaper hybrid in the country.
Have a look: Toyota Prius v. Honda Vezel: A Comparison Between Two Popular Hybrid Options In Pakistan
