FAW Toyota’s third-generation Prius is still scheduled to be manufactured in China on schedule despite the withdrawal of government subsidies and shortages in the domestic electric battery market, Gasgoo.com said, citing the Beijing News.
Sources from within the joint venture reportedly said the Prius will hit the Chinese market next year, with the chance that it might carry a lower than expected price tag but there are still no plans to domestically manufacture the plug-in Prius, however.
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Su Tao, enterprise planning director for the joint venture’s sale division, was confident that starting domestic production of the Prius would help slash its price greatly. A cut of CNY40,000 (US$6,294) was mentioned but he added that FAW Toyota’s chief goal was to help build the brand and that sales were a secondary consideration.
Su admitted that reducing costs would be quite difficult, as the Prius is very much targeted towards specific segments of the market.
The second generation Prius was assembled in China.
