Yaris sales have completely tanked

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

I think the Prius C is a great car. My main complaint is the tail lights - just very odd looking and over sized. It's certainly the best city car you can buy. My local Dominoes uses a C with it completely covered in branding. Now that's how you deliver pizza! Ideal for stop and go city cruising.

If I was to buy a Prius though, I do prefer the standard liftback Prius. Just as good or better highway mileage in a bigger, better looking car.

With my sister's Prius LB, I got about 70-75 mpg 90/10 hwy/city with some traffic and hills (yes, my family has two Prius C and one Prius LB ). I have yet to drive the Prius C that much on the freeway

But I do agree that the taillights are a tad bit too big. hahaha

[junorico24]

Well, here in Aus. The new corolla is everywhere. It makes sense.It's probably because Toyota are targeting costumers with families. Yaris is small and would suit students and young people. We know that some students that have money would more than likely go for sport cars than a Yaris.They want something with street credentials. Anyway, for the budget conscious people the Yaris is ideal.But that's people with less money to spend on brand new cars which means they don't make as much money selling a Yaris but the corolla makes more money for the manufacturer.Plus the Corolla is popular with buyers it's a bigger better car.


Top 10 cars

1 Toyota Corolla (3504)

2 Toyota Hilux (2932)

3 Mazda3 (2842)

4 Holden Cruze (2290)

5 Hyundai i30 (2150)

6 Nissan Navara (1953)

7 Ford Ranger (1683)

8 Ford Focus (1670)

9 Holden Captiva (1620)

10 Toyota Camry (1617

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by junorico24

Well, here in Aus. The new corolla is everywhere. It makes sense.It's probably because Toyota are targeting costumers with families. Yaris is small and would suit students and young people. We know that some students that have money would more than likely go for sport cars than a Yaris.They want something with street credentials. Anyway, for the budget conscious people the Yaris is ideal.But that's people with less money to spend on brand new cars which means they don't make as much money selling a Yaris but the corolla makes more money for the manufacturer.Plus the Corolla is popular with buyers it's a bigger better car.


Top 10 cars

1 Toyota Corolla (3504)

2 Toyota Hilux (2932)

3 Mazda3 (2842)

4 Holden Cruze (2290)

5 Hyundai i30 (2150)

6 Nissan Navara (1953)

7 Ford Ranger (1683)

8 Ford Focus (1670)

9 Holden Captiva (1620)

10 Toyota Camry (1617

Always interesting to see the market differencs around the world. Every market is completely different. Best sellers in one country aren't even sold in another. Weird. I can see why economics, gas prices, and government policy changes demand for certain models but I wonder why consumer tastes are so different. Automakers even have to tailor different styling of the same model to different markets.

Check out the USA's top 10 just for June. Notice it's mostly large trucks and mid-size sedans compared to other markets dominated by small cars/trucks. The Ford F-Series numbers continue to be ridiculous. It sells more in the US than all cars combined in many/most countries.

[Septembersrain]

I had to practically twist their arm to get my Yaris.
They tried to push me into the Corolla.
I was also pushed into the Scion xD.
I wanted the Yaris. I had it as a rental and fell in love.

[Flipper_1938]

Even with how hard it was to buy one...there are quite a few Yaris sedans in my area. I probably see 10-15 of them a day.

[mirapatec]

I think the guys at my dealership were shocked that I was actually interested in the Yaris. They were probably happy to have "unloaded" it on me. ;-)

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Actually, when my bro test drove a Corolla, the interior space was not that much more than my sedan. In fact, rear leg space was the same, front leg space slightly more, and the trunk actually felt smaller than mine. lol. I never looked at specs sheets to see the "real" differences, but "real world" didn't impress me much. With that said, they don't even sell the sedan anymore. hahaha

[Septembersrain]

I was about to attempt to test drive a Corolla right?
Then I sat in it and I was like.. "I suddenly feel like a soccer mom".

That was it for me entertaining that idea.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Septembersrain

I was about to attempt to test drive a Corolla right?
Then I sat in it and I was like.. "I suddenly feel like a soccer mom".

That was it for me entertaining that idea.

[nookandcrannycar]

The Yaris Towing 1000 lbs? thread (and more specifically the Herbie's World tour link) prompted me to search re quite a few different possibilities.

One search unearthed a trailer that pops open into a tent. This trailer can even be towed by a motorcycle. One of these searches led me to type 'Prius RV' and I found the site sueanneonline.blogspot.com. I read one or two of her pages, and the most interesting thing I uncovered is that the Prius (because it is a hybrid, and re how the Toyota hybrid system works) can be used as a sort of climate controlled tent (IF you find the natural climate to be too hot or too cold. Sue Anne describes what can be done -- set the climate control (engine off) to the desired temperature and go to sleep. When the battery drains enough to need the engine, the car starts without any driver input and then runs only 4 minutes out of every half hour to keep the climate system working. The great thing is, IMO, having such a portable climate controlled environment to doze off in....near a beach....way up in the mountains.....out in the desert....IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE....NEARLY ANYWHERE close to a paved road. This really appeals to me. I ended up saving more of her pages.

Weeks later, I returned to this subject and read just a bit more of her blog. She keeps her bed as a permanent fixture when traveling (it isn't inflatable). That is too conspicuous to suit me. I started looking at what some other people had come up with. One guy on You Tube took a brand new Prius V and removed the rear seats. He then built strong reinforced boxes (with lids) that level the load area and bolt in the same way the seats are anchored and in the same location. He also constructed an easily removable platform (one each for driver and passenger sides) that extend from the edge of each box to the back of each front seat. His set up appealed to me more than Sue Anne's because his solution keeps 'everything behind the front seats' and can be covered by a tarp or something similar. Humans can adapt pretty easily and also easily communicate (with words) their displeasure to other humans. Given this, one might ask why the owner would go to such lengths to create a bed for himself and his wife (for camping trips). The answer is that he also created it for year round comfort for their 100 pound dog !

I then looked into how well a Prius V would fit in my garage (given the other items I need to house there), and it would be, by just a bit, too tight a fit to utilize in a comfortable manner. Plus, the standard Prius has better fuel economy than the Prius V. The standard Prius also can utilize a Habitent (designed for the standard Prius, fits on the Honda Insight, and doesn't fit on the Prius V or the Prius C), I started searching for solutions that would allow the use of the standard Prius.

I eventually found another website where someone had taken the 'extending the platform to the back of the front seat concept' that the Prius V owner had utilized and applied it to a standard Prius. Yet another Prius owner (in the comments on that STANDARD Prius owner's site) wrote that he had accomplished the same thing by filling up the rear passenger footwell with a backpack (and other things already in the car) and then putting a particular inflatable Coleman mattress on top of that. I thought THAT is the solution I prefer.

A few days ago I was reading more of the saved pages from sueanneonline.blogspot.com and noticed (in the comments) THAT THE GIRL FROM THE HERBIE'S WORLD TOUR couple had posted a comment!

I still have a fair amount of non camping 'Yaris Travel' that I want to do. I plan to keep my Yaris as a DD until it has (probably) between 375,000 and 400,000 miles on the odometer. There is quite a bit of development going on in my area right now (and into the near future). This development should play itself out by the time I get to that mileage level with my Yaris. If I don't end up liking the effects of the coming development, I'll likely sell my house and buy one closer to Lake Conroe (with more garage space.....enough for the Yaris as a non DD , and more storage), and buy a standard Prius. If I decide to keep my house, I'll likely still get a standard Prius and will have to come up with some other solution re storing my Yaris. I can't stand the thought of no longer owning a manual transmission car (and especially one that has served me so well), even if I'm no longer using it as a DD!

[Hershey]

Big vehicles are the craze in this area .

[jonoe]

They should have left it like it was
got more storage in my 2007 then new car
I also liked the gages in the center

[thebarber]

Im a little late to the discussion, but:

1. Americans don't like hatchbacks
2. The yaris uses the same (essentially) powertrain that was in the echo in 2000MY

[roxy1]

Originally Posted by thebarber

Im a little late to the discussion, but:

1. Americans don't like hatchbacks
2. The yaris uses the same (essentially) powertrain that was in the echo in 2000MY

id go more with the yaris being a really bland design, boring to drive, and still (imo) having the cheapest and noisiest interior of anything in its class.

Americans are buying plenty of hatchbacks. the Honda fit is selling 4500-5000+ per month and it is in need of an update. the tiny fiat 500 has been selling around 4000 per month and that is with a tiny dealer network (about 130 dealers in the whole country).

the reliability gap between the least reliable cars and most reliable cars has closed dramatically so the yaris being reliable isn't enough.

[Flipper_1938]

Originally Posted by roxy1

id go more with the yaris being a really bland design, boring to drive, and still (imo) having the cheapest and noisiest interior of anything in its class.

Americans are buying plenty of hatchbacks. the Honda fit is selling 4500-5000+ per month and it is in need of an update. the tiny fiat 500 has been selling around 4000 per month and that is with a tiny dealer network (about 130 dealers in the whole country).

the reliability gap between the least reliable cars and most reliable cars has closed dramatically so the yaris being reliable isn't enough.

4,000-5,000 per month sales...SUCKS!

That is only like 10 shifts worth of production from a large car factory on the manufacturing end. (3 shifts x 6 days a week x 4 weeks = 72 shifts a month in a busy plant)

On the sales end, that can't be many sales for each dealer in the coutry....hard to pay the mortgage on the dealership with those kind of numbers.

[roxy1]

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

4,000-5,000 per month sales...SUCKS!

.

not for models that do not occupy the main production focus...which are the compacts and midsized car. ie corolla/camry, civic/accord, fiesta/fusion. those cars take up a dramatically more production resources. every model cant sell 25,000+ units per month.

American are buying more subcompacts than ever, and much of that is increased choices and amenities in small cars.

[Flipper_1938]

Originally Posted by roxy1

not for models that do not occupy the main production focus...which are the compacts and midsized car. ie corolla/camry, civic/accord, fiesta/fusion. those cars take up a dramatically more production resources. every model cant sell 25,000+ units per month.

American are buying more subcompacts than ever, and much of that is increased choices and amenities in small cars.

Actually, smaller cars need more volume to make money since there is not as much profit built into the price of the car. The car still requires the same amount of tooling to manufacture the car (same number of unique stamping dies required to stamp out panels). Flexible weld cells can help spread assembly equipment costs to other vehicles, but nobody is making any money on small cars at these volumes.

[yougojay]

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

4,000-5,000 per month sales...SUCKS

No, 747 units a month SUCKS - 4,000-5,000 units is great, especially nowadays when everyone is BROKE & the economy is garbage.