TheOtherDave™

The whole Insight/Prius price war thing has been settled. We know that the cheapest 2010 Toyota Prius will be $21,750 and the lowest-cost 2010 Honda Insight will be $20,470. Hybrid buyers win because of the competitive price drops, but it turns out that both automakers are also winners. According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei (via Green Car Congress), each hybrid that Honda and Toyota sell earns the respective company about $3,100 in profit. Of course, Toyota also sells the Lexus hybrids, which bumps up the average, and the numbers are calculated using 2008 sales of the second-generation Prius, but this is still good news for the Japanese automakers. In fact, Green Car Congress says that the companies make as much money on each hybrid as they do on each small, gasoline-engined vehicle they sell. With numbers like that, there's no reason to expect the "hybrid for everyone" (the Insight) and the world's best-selling hybrid (the Prius) to go away any time soon. Wonder what Saturn thinks of all this?

Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight



Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius



[Source: Nikkei via Green Car Congress]Filed under: Hybrid, Honda, Toyota

Honda, Toyota make $3,100 profit on each hybrid sold originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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