Prius As An Independent Brand From Toyota
Rumors have been circulating for some time that the Prius, the best-selling hybrid vehicles from Toyota, to become a brand in itself. Toyota envisions the Prius marquee to encompass a whole lineup of hybrid vehicles. They will use a distinctive styling that will make these vehicles stand out from the rest by “yelling” loudly about the vehicle’s green qualifications. But lest you become too excited about this development, this brand is most likely seen to enter the market only in 2010. Speculation is, the Prius will launch its brand with three main models to carry the line.
The Prius might be one of the top selling hybrid cars in the market today but with a lot of automakers gearing to push this segment with innovative ideas and new technologies, the brand might find itself in difficult straits. In addition, the hybrid option is becoming common in many vehicle lineups so the move to separate Prius from Toyota may not be a feasible idea over the long term.
On the other hand, the opposite may also be true. With the Prius name being as established as it is in the hybrid industry, it may give Toyota a head start in this market. Moreover, as the hybrids become common, having a specialized and separate brand may just work in Toyota’s favor. They will be able to focus on the development as well as the marketing of the Prius brand a lot better.
However, despite all the advantages that is expected to be derived from this move, a lot of speculators don’t believe that there is a great merit in establishing Prius as a separate brand. With Toyota’s capacity to manufacture their vehicles in a limited amount of development time, this move may just be the right one for them and only time will tell if it is effective or not.
