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Buyers of Toyota’s Prius are facing waiting times of up to nine months in Japan as the company struggles to keep up with demand for the car.

The Tsutsumi plant in Japan, the only producer of Priuses worldwide, has a global backlog of 100,000 cars as demand for the new hybrid outstrips supply.

Latest sales figures show that one in 10 cars currently sold in Japan is a Prius.

In the UK, meanwhile, Toyota is quoting a wait of 10 weeks for a new Prius.

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 could be a sign of the future, there is not enough lithium in the planets resources to provide batteries for a world of electric cars. In this case i dont know why toyota cant make enough, but a 100,000 backlog is serious.

 

It's because it's the right car at the right time at the right price. It's not bad to drive and ridiculously cheap to run as a company car compared to it's competitors. I know I can think of lots of fun ways to spend the £200 per month it saves me in tax and fuel.

 I dont understand the economics of car backlogs, if it was my business i would bring it down from 100,000 to 1,000 by charging £40k per prius, or whatever the correct balance is to maintain nice supply and demand. Obviously for such high demand toyota are not charging enough money.

 

The whole scenario which has the consumer in the middle and Prius on one side of it and the current oil crisis and the associated problem of carbon emissions on the other side can only be compared with being between a rock and a hard place. The price tag is so steep that an ordinary person would find it way out of his or her range, and the premise that it's an advanced technology which makes it an expensive proposition is in itself a lot more than just flimsy. The whole pricing model can most probably be termed extortionate. Once all of that has been considered, how can one ignore the way this thing looks.

 Maybe, but none of that fits in with 100,000 on a waiting list to get one...

10 week UK wait?!?!

 

Lucky sods. I ordered the new Fiesta titanium way back on June 30th from my local Ford dealer in Hampshire and I STILL don't have a build date as of today, October 22nd!

 

10 weeks? I wish...

My brother bought a white one a couple of weeks ago - not sure how long he had to wait - but I wouldn't wait ten minutes for one - it looks and sounds like a domestic appliance ...

All this shows is that are alot of people out there who are misguided and think they are being "eco friendly"

This car is more damaging to the envioronment over the course of its life than a hummer for gods sake! 

When will people wake up and smell what they have on the shovel?! 

38carssofar:

My brother bought a white one a couple of weeks ago - not sure how long he had to wait - but I wouldn't wait ten minutes for one - it looks and sounds like a domestic appliance ...

I seen several and have yet to see one that wasn't white. Do they come in other colours or are they pushing the white goods thing to the limits?