Last Year for Prius Plug-In; Hopefully not Forever
by
The Car Family

Good-Bye Old Friend

Good-Bye Old Friend

Toyota is making some bold moves lately, and we aren’t talking about pulling up stakes in California and moving to Texas, but it ending production of its much loved, but pricey, Prius Plug-In. The 2015 will be the last year for this model as Toyota looks to rethink, redesign, and reimagine what The Car Family believes was the best commuter car you could buy. Period.

To give you an example of what the model provided, it got a real world, daily use, mixed driving use, multiple driver use, 67 mpg average. The electric bill was only $4 extra a month using the off-peak hours feature. And, in some states the Plug-In was eligible for the coveted high occupancy permit saving an average of ten to twenty minutes of travel time on a typical commute. Add to that the high resale value, about 60 percent after three years, the exceptional cargo capacity, ease of loading, and ability to be parked in the smallest of spaces and you have a winner.

That being said, Toyota is facing more competition and is apparently rethinking the extra engineering and cost of a plug-in version to the insanely popular Prius. The cost of this option has already placed the plug-in over $5000 of the price of a Camry hybrid, although the Camry didn’t have the plug-in feature.

We shall miss what Plug-in owners affectionately call the PIP, and wonder how many potential buyers were opt for a non-Toyota product to replace it. One thing for sure, Toyota has weighed that decision well and is apparently willing to gamble that a new, improved version may attract PIP owners back into the fold in a few years. Stay tuned.