New Toyota Prius an Instant Hit

EPSOM, UNITED KINGDOM – August 6, 2009: The British motoring public has shown itself eager to embrace the latest advances in cleaner, fuel efficient, full hybrid power by signing up in their thousands to buy the all-new Toyota Prius.

By the time of Prius’s official on-sale date this week, more than 2,000 advance orders had been taken. Almost 10 per cent of these were placed through the scrappage scheme, with drivers ready to swap old, thirsty and high-polluting models for Prius, which ranks as the world’s cleanest family car with just 89g/km of CO2 produced by the T3 model.

A glance at the list of vehicles traded in under the scheme reveals the breadth of appeal of new Prius: in a sublime-to-the-ridiculous array of past-it machinery, owners have given up everything from a Jaguar Sovereign and Mercedes-Benz SL to a Nissan Sunny and Fiat Tipo to be among the first to drive the new full hybrid Prius.

Toyota has received tremendous feedback from its pre-launch marketing activities, which have included retail and fleet driving opportunities taken up by more than 3,000 people, and major displays in the country’s leading shopping centres. Further momentum will be gained from a new TV advertising campaign which broke this week, under the tagline: “The Next Prius. Follow Me”.