Prius Alpha Buyers Could Wait Up To 1 Year – Lose Tax Breaks

Although Toyota is going to be increasing Prius Alpha production in Japan from 3000 to 5000 units per month, Toyota is telling customers that component shortages and exceptionally strong demand mean that they could be waiting beyond April 2012 for delivery, and the Japanese Nikkei newspaper is stating that orders placed now may well not be fulfilled until May or June 2012.

After initially aiming at 3,000 units sold per month, figures as of May 22nd show that more than 28,000 Alphas with two rows of seats have been ordered, along with 11,000 3-row vehicles. That’s 39,000 vehicles – or almost 8 months of production even at the increased output level. However, this higher level of production is not expected to be online until the end of the summer.

This is presumably why a message on Toyota’s website (Japanese-language) on May 14th states that customers should be aware of the risk that delivery will not be possible until after April 2012.

Since Japan’s EcoCar tax break on fuel-efficient vehicles is set to end at the end of March 2012, this may well put some customers in the position of having to pay a higher final price for the car than they had expected when they ordered it in 2011. It remains to be seen whether Toyota will provide its customers with any compensatory discounts to negate this.

Source: Nikkei (Japanese-language)