Originally Posted by Toyota USA

TORRANCE, Calif., April 5, 2011 – Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today announced the one-millionth sale of the Toyota Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicle, in the United States. It is the third milestone for Toyota’s hybrid lineup in the last six months that started with the announcement of worldwide Toyota Prius sales topping two million in October 2010 and overall global Toyota hybrid sales passing three million last month.

“Since the Prius went on sale eleven years ago not a year has gone by when it hasn’t been the number one selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S,” said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager. “Prius has become synonymous with the word hybrid and as we see fuel prices starting to rise again, it has accounted for more than 60 percent of hybrid passenger car sales so far this year. Prius paved the way for hybrids and while it is still the hybrid leader in sales and fuel economy, I’m proud to say that since its introduction, 13 other auto brands have seen the benefits of hybrid technology and joined the hybrid market.”

The third-generation Prius topped the EPA’s list of the Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles for 2011. It has been named the Best Overall Value of the Year for the last nine years in a row by IntelliChoice, and has the highest owner loyalty of any mid-size vehicle for four of the last five years according to R.L. Polk. More than 97 percent of all Toyota Prii sold since 2000 are still on the road.

Since it was introduced in the U.S. in 2000, Prius, when compared to the average car, has saved American consumers more than an estimated 881 million gallons of gas, $2.19 billion in fuel costs, and 12.4 million tons of CO2 emissions.

In January 2011 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Toyota debuted the Prius v, the first vehicle to be debuted as part of the Prius family marketing strategy. Prius v, which goes on sale in third quarter of 2011, is a mid-size vehicle that provides more than 50 percent additional interior cargo space than the current Prius. In early 2012 Prius will launch two more Prius family members – the Prius c compact hybrid vehicle and the Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicle.

Originally Posted by bad co

Give me a 250hp+ Prius and I'll be first on the list. Im not willing to sacrafice v8 power for fuel savings ( once gas reaches 10 a gallon I'll consider down sizing)

Originally Posted by Luxotic

hybrid saves on gas ... but all of the batteries that come out of these cars no one considers

Originally Posted by SLegacy99

Actually there has been a lot of consideration. In fact, Toyota set up a recylcing system early on. However, the unexpected low rate of battery failure caused Toyota to temporarily close this operation (this was 5 years ago now) because there wasn't much to recycle. Furthermore, the few instances of battery failure are often solved by utilizing a battery from a vehicle that is no longer operational, such as one that is totaled, but still has the battery intact. That's recycling in its purest form.

I would have to find it, but there was an interesting article about the Volt and its large battery pack. One of the interesting things about Li-ion technology is that these batteries are very recyclable. So while you may have a degraded pack, it is still worth money because it can be put to other use. I digress, this article discussed how the Volt was designed with the process of recycling the battery in the forefront. GM knew that by putting all of these vehicles on the road, a plan would have to exist to dispose of them.

But yes, cars (all cars), cell phones, computers, and the like all use batteries.

Originally Posted by bitkahuna

if the guages weren't in the middle and the option bundling weren't so stupid i might get one. but regardless, huge success for toyota!