it will help to management students who obtain marketing.

1. PRIUS: LEADING A WAVE OF

2. INTRODUCTION
“If you owned [a hybrid car], you could
feel good about using less gasoline and
being a trendsetter, but you couldn't expect
the fuel savings to make up for the
thousands of extra dollars that the hybrid
cost. There was no financial reward for
environmental virtue.” (Leonhard, 2006)
This quote neatly presents the
tradeoffs in marketing green product like
hybrid cars; often they are not
competitive by themselves in terms of
prices or features. So how do you market a
product like this? Can you convince a lot of
people to forgo features or pay more
money in order to be eco-friendly?

3. In general, the answer is no.While
certain market segments will show a
preference for eco friendly
products, those attributes alone are
not enough for a product to gain
widespread acceptance (Power, 2008).
TheToyota Prius provides a on crete
case study of this truth.While the
biggest product differentiation of the
Prius is a fuel efficient, hybrid
engine, most people don't buy it
because it is eco-friendly.

4. Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota is a Japanese automotive manufacturer
headquartered in Toyota Japan. In 2013
the multinational corporation consisted of 333,498
employees worldwide and, as of January 2014, is
the fourteenth-largest company in the world by
revenue. Toyota was the largest automobile
manufacturer in 2012 (by production).In July of that
year, the company reported the production of its 200-
millionth vehicle . Toyota is the world's first automobile
manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles
per year. It did so in 2012 according to OICA, and in
2013 according to company data .As of November 2013,
Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan
by market capitalization(worth more than twice as
much as #2-ranked Soft Bank ) and by revenue.

5. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in
1937 as a spinoff from his father„s company Toyota
Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in
1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries , it
created its first product, the Type A engine , and, in
1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota
Motor Corporation produces vehicles under 5
brands, including the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz
, and Scion. It also holds a 51.2% stake in Daihatsu, a
16.66% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, a 5.9% stake
in Isuzu, and a 0.27% stake in Tesla, as well as joint-
ventures with two in China, one in India (Toyota
Kirloskar), one in the Czech Republic, along with
several "nonautomotive" companies.TMC is part of
the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in
the world.

6. CASE STUDY ABOUT TOYOTA PRIUS
Americans love car which have high gas
mileage and emits fewer air pollutants.They
even rebelled against gasoline price increase
even its much more cheaper in U.S. than any
other country.Toyota introduced Prius in
2000.The name means “to go before”.The
Prius and the companion hybrid Honda
came to be the first in a wave of hybrid.
It combines a 1.5 liter, 4 cylinders gas
engine and a 33 kilowatt electric motor to
deliver 114 horsepower. It comfortably seats
five and has 12 cubic feet of trunk space.The
electric motor starts the car and operates at
low speeds, using a nickel metal-hybrid
battery. At higher speed, the Prius
autotomatically switches to the gasoline
engine.

7. The downside is that the Prius is besides no
muscle machine. It also costs about $3,000
more than the Echo, although they are
nearly the same car. In addition, hybrids use
regenerative braking to recharge its
batteries, with the result that braking during
the EPA driving cycle is feeding more energy
back into the system, boosting estimated
gas mileage.
On the brighter side,Toyota and its
competitors believe that the cost will
decrease once the production of hybrids
begins to yield economies of scale.At
present, the corporate average

8. The case throws a light on how
Toyota marketed their hybrid
product ’ Prius ’ in a market which
had a history of fast cars and big
SUVs. Prius has two drive trains :-
1. A conventional gasoline
engine
2. An electric motor
When running in slow speeds
(15 mph) the electric motor
powers the Prius, and on speeds
above 15 mph the gas engine
provides the power to reduce to
the car and charges the battery at
the same time.

9. Although , being unpopular in the “test drives”
fraternity due to its sluggish behavior, the early
sales of Prius were quite impressive.Toyota
targeted those buyers which are known as early
adopters and innovators and those who always love
new technology. Innovative marketing tactics were
adopted in the print media, on television and on the
internet to create a hype about the car.The case
tells howToyota identified the market and adopted
itself at various stages of product cycle and
concentrated on its target customers.

11.  STRENGTH
a. Innovative culture
b. Brand reputation valued at
$ 30 billion
c. Industry leader in
production and sales
d. Strong brand portfolio
e. The leader in “green” cars
development.

12.  WEAKNESSES
a. Fear large recalls
b. Weak presence in
the emerging
markets

13.  OPPORTUNITIES
a. Positive attitude towards “green” vehicles
b. Increase fuel prices
c. Changing customer needs
d. Growth through acquisitions

14.  THREATS
a. Decreasing fuel prices
b. New emission standards
c. Rising new material prices
d. Intense competition
e. Natural disasters
f. Appreciating yen exchange rate.

15. QUESTION-ANSWERS

16. QUESTION-ANSWERS
1. What micro -environmental factors affect the
introduction and sale of the Toyota Prius? How
well has Toyota dealt with these factors?
2. Outline the major macro –environmental
factors – demographic , economic, natural,
technological, political and cultural – that have
affected the introduction and sale of the Toyota
Prius. How has Toyota dealt with each these
factors?

17. 3. EvaluateToyota’s marketing
strategy so far. What has
Toyota done well? How might
it improve its strategy?
4. In your opinion, what are the
advantages ofToyota’s early
entry into the market? What
are the disadvantages?
ShouldToyota have waited –
like Ford, GM and Daimler
Chrysler?