Toyota Prius now available in China

Japanese auto major Toyota has finally launched their premiere hybrid offering Toyota Prius in the Chinese market. This also becomes the first locally manufactured hybrid from the world’s second largest automobile manufacturer. The company said in a statement that Prius has been priced at between 288,000 Yuan and 302,000 Yuan depending upon the version customer chooses.

The company is aiming at selling 3,000 Prius cars this year in China. Prius has been a phenomenal success for the company worldwide with more than 500,000 units shipped worldwide since its launch in 1997. They have already received online orders for more than 50 units they had manufactured locally in the two weeks after the first car rolled off the assembly line in the middle of December.

Toyota would also be using Prius to test how successful hybrids can be in this market, which has become the second largest in the world overtaking Japan. Even the Chinese government has stated their preferences for environment friendly vehicles. Hybrids usually are as much as 30 percent more efficient than their gasoline-powered counterparts.

Even better is the fact that Chinese automobile customers have grown to prefer compact sized cars. Fuel prices are increasing worldwide and hybrids should become more popular in the coming times.