Team 1

Deregnaucourt Justine111 053 139

Matoso Luciano111 061 004

Morin Flavie908 421 813

Zacco Nievas Julian111 061 008

Marketing Management – MRK-1101

Case Study

Marketing Environment

Prius: Leading a wave of Hybrid

Teacher : Nizar Souiden,Ph.D.

Faculté des sciences de l’administration (FSA)

Session Hiver – Février 2013

About Toyota

Founded by Kiichiro Toyoda, Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational

corporation that is principally engaged in the production of cars, vans, trucks, buses and

robots. Alongside its extensive vertical and horizontal integration, Toyota participates in the

construction of houses, production of textile machinery, real estate market, financial activities,

and biotechnology research.

Currently, its president and representative director is Akio Toyoda, and is headquartered in

Aichi, Japan. Over time, Toyota Motor Corporation has been awarded the title of largest

automobile producer in the world, along with the privilege of being the twelfth largest

company in the world.

Toyota has 50 manufacturing plants, 170 distributors, 326,000 employees and 660,000

shareholders around the globe. In the fiscal year ended 2012 March 31, it sold more than

7,351,000 vehicles1. The largest portion of its production takes place in Japan along with most

of its sales, closely followed by those made in North America. According to the R & I (Rating

and Investment Information Inc.), Toyota is in the AAA category, this being the highest.

Among its greatest creations, characterized by creativity and strength, are the methods of

production and procurement "Just In Time" and “Jidoka”, the first mass-produced hybrid car

and widespread distribution (Prius), the first automatic parking system in a vehicle and the

most sold car in world history (Corolla - more than 37.5 million units).2

Through four global strategic business units (Cars & Minivans, Trucks, Crossovers & SUVs

and Hybrids & EVs) and many international branches, Toyota attends to completely different

markets, meaning it commercializes a complete line of products for each type of customer and

every region of the world, by developing both global and regional models. Brazil is different

from China, which is different from India, and so on. As an example: in Brazil, the Corolla

model sells well. On the opposite, the Lexus is the Russian bestseller.

1 IJICHI, Takahiko.’’FORM 20-F’’. UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION.

(June 25th 2012). [Online]

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1094517/000119312512281223/d249054d20f.htm#rom249054_12

(January 31th 2013)

2 MCINTYRE, Douglas. “The Best-Selling Cars of All Time”. 24/7 Wallstreet.com. January 26 2012 [Online]http://247wallst.com/2012/01/26/the-best-selling-cars-of-all-time/ (January 25th 2013)

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By selling quality and reliable products, Toyota harvests an intense loyalty that grows with

transferable warranties, product availability in any country, nurtured personal experiences and

testimonies of financial services offered, making its users consider only the option of

replacing their Toyota with another Toyota.

Toyota's earnings are derived from two main sources. On one hand, it is able to reduce costs

to a minimum because of its highly effective organization of production systems. On the other

hand, it is a leveraged company, and as indicated by the fundamentals of corporate finance, as

the ratio of debt to equity grows, increases the return on investment for shareholders.

Following we expose Toyota’s mission, vision and values3:

Mission

"Offering our customers the prestigious car brand Toyota. Based on quality delivery, after-

sales tracking and quality service at reasonable prices, to meet customer needs with

technological support and quality, while achieving a return for our shareholders."

Vision

"We have leaders in each of our workstations for the full satisfaction of our customers. We

are a service-oriented company, so we constantly innovate to exceed established standards.

Our vision is long term, since the relationship with our customers does not end with the sale

of a car, just then is when it starts."

Values

• Honesty: "We act with honesty and integrity, maintaining fair treatment to all people."

• Loyalty: "We are part of the Toyota Family, leading us according to the values and business

goals of the organization."

• Respect: "We keep at all times due regard for human dignity and their environment."

• Accountability: "We fulfilled our duty, making the company’s policies and provisions our

own."

• Confidence: "We perform with accuracy, timeliness and fidelity to strengthen our

environment."

3 TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION. “Vision & philosophy”. Toyota-Global.com [Online]http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/ (January 23rd 2013)

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Toyota has developed a Code of Conduct which organizes the basic attitudes necessary for

employees to keep, so as to act in line with the guiding principles and fulfill social

responsibilities.4

It is a tool to help employees maintain adequate knowledge of how to behave as members of

the company and the Toyota Family, conducting their daily operations based on the common

awareness of these principles.

To ensure compliance, special training takes place from senior managers down to the last

employee, disseminating information on its website and run e-learning programs.

Hybrids

“A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses an on-board rechargeable energy storage system

(RESS) and a fuel based power source for vehicle propulsion.”5Nowadays, hybrid technology

is used not only for vehicle but also in rail transport, public buses, military off-road vehicles,

ships, aircrafts, etc.

In 1899, Henry Pieper developed the first petro-electric vehicle. The most common

technology used for cars is the Power-Split (or serie-parallel hybrid) which takes its power

from two motors at the same time: an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. 6

Hybrids are known to consume less fuel than regular cars but the main issue is regarding the

damage of the car battery made of nickel metal or lithium ion. The sales of the Toyota Prius

reached 235,000 in 2012, a number that is considerably higher than the previous year of

135,000 and 160,000 for the year 2008.7

Prius

4 TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION. “Code of Conduct”. Toyota-Global.com [Online]http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_code_of_conduct.html (January 23rd 2013)

5 ORLOFF, Jeffrey. “Hybrid Vehicle”. About.com. [Online] http://saveenergy.about.com/od/fuelingyourautomobile/g/Hybrid.htm (January 30th 2013)

6 BERMAN, Brad. “History of Hybrid Vehicles”. Hybridcars. June 14 2011. [Online] http://www.hybridcars.com/history-of-hybrid-vehicles/ (February 2nd 2013)

7 COBB, Jeff. “December 2012 Dashboard’’. Hybridcars. January 8th 2013. [Online] http://www.hybridcars.com/december-2012-dashboard (January 30th 2013)

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The Toyota Prius was introduced in 1997 in Japan but it was launched worldwide in 2000. In

Latin, Prius means ‘before’ because the company says that the idea was launched before the

environmental awareness issue. In 1995, Toyota first presents its hybrid concept at the Tokyo

Motor show. Then, sales started in 1997 and the car becomes the first mass-produced hybrid.

Toyota are the first to introduce a Japanese hybrid vehicle to North America.8 The company

decided to market their first generation of hybrids between the Corolla and the Camry.  In

addition of the owner fuel economy, they were eligible to a 3,400$US federal tax credit.9

Between 2003 and 2009, Toyota completely redesigned the vehicle. They added more interior

space and used more eco-friendly products. During those years, sales stayed as low as 2,152

cars for 2006 and only 414 in 2007. The significantly low sales were partly attributed on the

high price of the car. From the year 2009 to present, Toyota presented a third generation of

Prius in which they added more power to the car, a larger possibility of fuel economy, and

some plant-derived ecological bio plastics. Moreover, they installed a 6.1 touch screen, where

you can see the fuel level, the battery level and the outside temperature. They added a USB

port for IPod, a Bluetooth hands free phone system and a solar panel which gives energy to

the car fan.10

The Prius Family consists of 4 different hybrids. The first one is the regular and most popular

Prius. The second one is called Prius V which has an extended hatchback wagon and it has

50% more interior space than the original one. The third one is the Prius C which has a high

demand because it is listed at a lower price than all of the others. However, it is smaller than

the Prius hatchback. The fourth and last one is the Prius plug-in hybrid which you can easily

plug to an external source of power.

Even if the sales were very low during the precedent years, the Prius found its way to the top.

In 2009, the car became the bestseller in Japan. Then, in 2012, Prius had 51,5% of the US

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9 “Federal tax credits for hybrids”. U.S. department of energy. [Online] http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml (January 31th 2013)

10 DUNN, Max. “Case Study: The Toyota Prius”. Academia.edu. March 3rd 2010. [Online] http://www.academia.edu/239996/Prius_Marketing_Case_Study (January 30th 2013)

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Hybrids market share. Today, three models from the Prius Family are among the top 10 most

fuel efficient cars sold in the United States11.

To analyze the proper Market Environment of the brand, it is essential for the company to

know and understand the environmental factors that surround it, in order to adapt the right

strategy. Analyzing these environments permit to better understand the marketplace and its

consumers.

How Toyota can react to changes in the marketing environments? We will focus on micro and

macro environmental factors to explain the marketing strategy of the Toyota Prius.

MICROENVIRONMENT

When considering Toyota’s microenvironment related to the Prius, we cannot leave any of the

studied segments out of our analysis. Toyota has managed to build valuable relationships with

both their customers and suppliers, not to mention its own employees, shareholders and

associates their leading role in the value delivery system.

As for the company itself, Toyota is a clear model of an organization that managed to grow

without letting its size comes in the way of its flexibility and values. Always innovating and

keeping state of the art equipment to work with, Toyota´s employees have been able to follow

the lines of the Jikoutei Kanketsu, Jidoka and Kanban concepts12, enabling the company to cut

down on stocks, defective production and wasted time, while maintaining a close and crucial

relationship with its customers. Every team in the factory is able to solve most situations that

might appear at their station - this is a big difference between Toyota and its competitors.

The development and production of the Prius was handled as only Toyota could ever have

done. Taking advantage of the relationships Toyota had built with its suppliers thru years and

new strategic agreements (like the one with Tesla Motors), the G21 project was launched with

11 “Case Study: Toyota Prius Marketing Strategies”. MBA Knowledge base. [Online] http://www.mbaknol.com/management-case-studies/case-study-toyota-prius-marketing-strategies/ (January 30th 2013)

12 Alvarez Newman, Diego. “El toyotismo como sistema complejo de racionalización”. Scielo.org.ar [Online] June 2012http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?pid=S1514-68712012000100003&script=sci_arttext (January 28th 2013)

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the objective of developing an efficient eco-friendly vehicle13. Three years later, the Prius was

already in production and the first generation of mass-produced hybrids got to sales floors.

At that time, the eco-friendly trend among customers was only starting to show. The main

advantage the Prius could offer to its buyers was the millage in a time where oil prices were

high and rising. Toyota Prius’ early adopters were mostly people interested in trying new

technologies with environmental care related ideas. But it was soon to be change. As the

hybrid showed the world how efficient it is to be respectful of the environment, more people

got interested, and even celebrities started to see in it a good business partner –it is a clear

statement of the kind of values they hold as people. The Prius started to be popular among

celebrities like Larry David (TV producer), Demi Moore, Cameron Diaz, Owen Wilson,

Jessica Parker, Adrian Greiner, Kate Bosworth, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leonardo Di Caprio, Miley

Cirus, and the list goes on.14

The timing for the launch of the Prius could not have been better. Yet again showing how

rewarding courage and patience can be, this Japanese company developed a new market for

its new product – a market that still grows steadily today, and does so with high expectations.

As care for the environment grows, so grows the demand for efficient hybrid vehicles which

are the nexus to alternative fuels.

At first, Toyota was not fully concerned with competition, given the that first generation of

the Prius was in fact the first generation of hybrids launched in high numbers. It was the first

‘mass-produced hybrid’, so the market for this product was brand-new and there were no

direct competitors, only a few imperfect substitutes (like small non-hybrid cars, public

transport, car-pooling, motorcycles or bicycles). Nevertheless, when other companies

witnessed the Prius’ success, they did not hesitate to start developing hybrid systems of their

own. Today, the biggest competitor Toyota faced at this stage is Honda, with the Insight

model. However, the Insight does not offer the same convenience and overall value as the

Prius – explaining why the Prius represented more than half the sales of its own segment.15

GM and Ford also offered competition, but only as slow followers.

13 TOYOTALAND. “Toyota Prius Chronological History”. Toyotaland.com [Online]http://www.toyoland.com/prius/chronology.html (January 23rd 2013)

14 CELEBRITYCARS. “How Many Starts Own a Prius?” Celebritycarsblog.com [Online]http://www.celebritycarsblog.com/2011/01/how-many-celebrities-drive-a-prius/ (January 29th 2013)

15 HYBRIDCAR. “Market Dashboard” Hybridscar.com [Online]http://www.hybridcars.com/market-dashboard/ (January 25th 2013)

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For the second and third generation of the Prius, there have been changes among the

competitors. Today, there is more offer than ever for hybrid vehicles. Toyota monitors its

rivals closely, trying to predict their marketing strategy, taking advantage of being the first

developer and trying to always stay a few steps ahead.

As exposed before, Toyota has been working on its relationship with suppliers for long years.

As Japanese culture states, these companies try to understand each other and build

relationships that will last for decades. It is not unusual for them to help one another

financially or economically. They grew together, grow together and take care of each other.

These relationships are one of the main reasons behind Toyota’s success. Had it been not for

these kinds of agreements and understandings, Toyota wouldn’t have been able to develop the

Just-In-Time supplying system. Toyota and its suppliers understand perfectly how much value

these production links add to the final product, and nothing matters more to them, as they all

believe their first objective is to deliver their customers the most possible value.

Regarding its employees, Toyota has always had a particular way of seeing things. As an

example, Toyota has always announced its need for workers within itself before announcing it

to the public, therefore giving the opportunity for its own employees to go for the new vacant

if they prefer it to their current job, or to present family members for it. Indeed, Toyota

believes in family values and takes care of its own. In 2002 Toyota launched a project to

promote gender diversity within the workplace. Since then, lots of efforts have been made to

help balance work of women caring for their children by supporting their professional

development, while promoting the building of a culture that encourages them to make the

most of their abilities.

Toyota handles its public image through many programs and projects that help lots of

communities and thousands of people. In 2011 in Argentina, for example, 360 Toyota’s

employees conditioned and painted 30 schools completing the “Pintando 1000 paredes”

project. Also, as part of the celebration of the production of half a million units, the company

made the donation of a Hilux pickup to the General Hospital of Zarate, which will be

equipped as the first unit of pediatric transports and will be used to assist the Newborn Center.

With this donation, Toyota seeks to promote the integration and dialogue with communities

near the industrial plant. In Canada, through the Toyota Canada Foundation, Toyota proves

that it is committed to give back to local communities. This foundation focuses in

environmental, educational and social safety actions. Another example is the Toyota Earth

Day Scholarship awarded every year by the Toyota Foundation. This scholarships pay for all

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the expenses of the students who win it. In Toyota Canada Foundation’s words: “Every day,

in communities across Canada, young people are actively demonstrating their passion for the

environment through the important work they accomplish”16. These dedicated young

Canadians are emerging as tomorrow's environmental leaders and advocates. Toyota Canada

and the Toyota Canada Foundation in partnership with Earth Day Canada established the

Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program to help cultivate and nurture this environmental

leadership. The Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program encourages and rewards graduating

Canadian high school students who have distinguished themselves through environmental

community service, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and academic excellence. To

date, Toyota Canada, the Toyota Canada Foundation and Earth Day Canada (EDC) have

awarded 160 students with $800,000 in scholarships. The Toyota Earth Day Scholarship is

Canada's best recognized environmental entrance scholarship.”17

The company was also confronted to macro-environmental factors that have affected Prius

sales. Macro-environmental factors are the major external and uncontrollable factors that

influence an organization's decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These

factors include the economic factors, demographics, legal, political, and social conditions,

technological changes and natural forces.

MACROENVIRONMENT

Demographic

Demographics are also an important factor influencing Prius sales. Demand for vehicles has

been rising since population is growing rapidly. The baby boomers, those who were born after

the World War II till 1966, are starting to choose hybrid cars rather than regular cars, despite

the higher prices of the first. This people account for a third of Canada’s population and

control over 50 percent of the country’s wealth. Some of them are close to retirement and

therefore enjoy high salaries due to having worked all their lives. Also, 57 percent of the baby

16 Cultivating Tomorrow’s Environmental Leaders. Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program. [Online]http://www.earthday.ca/scholarship/about.php (January 30th 2013)

17 TOYOTA EARTH DAY PROGRAM. “About the Scholarship”. EarthDay.ca [Online]http://www.earthday.ca/scholarship/about.php (January 25th 2013)

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boomers who have retired do not want to leave inheritance because they think that each

generation should earn its own money.18 Why should they choose a car to show to the society

that they care instead of choosing comfort and luxury? Researches show that ‘’links between

displays of caring, environmental behaviors, and competition for status’’19. Before they make

their choices, these people are more likely to compare the different products. At the

beginning, Toyota only focused on the “techies”; nowadays, they also target eco-friendly

customers, those who are interested by fuel-efficiency vehicles but also a larger audience, like

families and “the baby boomers”.

Economic forces

It is important to know how the economic forces have an influence on the marketing strategy

of Toyota. Therefore, they include the current state of the economy, determine consumers’

activities and buying decisions and can be affected by factors like the cost of living, inflation

and interest rates.

These forces had an important impact on Toyota’s strategies. After the financial crisis, the

worldwide automobile industry was in a bad situation, with sales decreasing. Due to this

crisis, Toyota lost about $6 billion in 2009, and its sales went down of 15.1% on the previous

year. However, sales of the Prius reached 2 million sales.20

In addition, the situation about oil price in recent year has influenced the success of the Prius.

The rising cost of fuel price boosted the sales. A report by Consumer Reports revealed that the

Prius is one of the few hybrid cars to recover the premium price and save their owners money

after five years and 120.000 kilometers.21

Disregard of the weak economic growth and high oil prices, the sales figures for automobile

have been constant lately in Europe, North America and Asia and this had resulted to the

18 21 KOTLER, ARMSTRONG, CUNNINGHAM & TRIFTS. Principles of Marketing.Toronto. Eight Canadian,

2011.

19 GRISKEVICIUS, Vladas; TYBUR, Joshua M; VAN DER BERGH. “Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation”. BramJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2010, Vol. 98 (3), 392-404

20 Major forces impacting Toyota’s environment – Google documents [Online]http://satya.limewebs.com (January 30th 2013)

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emergence of new customer and growth. Competition among the manufacturers had urged

Toyota to conduct more research and development on Prius. Therefore, Toyota launched a

second generation Prius where they continue making amendment according to the latest

technology and preferences of their buyers.

Political forces

Political forces are measures, policies and standards implemented by the governments. These

can influence the companies’ decisions. In this case, politics have had a good impact on the

marketing strategy of the car and influenced the sales in a good way. Governments in

America help to promote eco-friendly vehicles by supporting cars such as the Prius. The

biggest incentives were monetary. The federal government offered tax breaks (amounting

thousands of dollars), free-parking places to whom will buy the Prius.

Therefore, some states in the US permits for Hybrid to drive in HOV (High Occupancy

Vehicle) even if there is only one occupant. Some eco-friendly companies like Google and

Timberland22 joined the incentive by offering $5000 for the purchase of a hybrid car.

Insurance companies lastly offer discount to these cars.

Sociocultural forces

These are forces that have an influence on the society’s concerns and culture and they may

lead to a change in attitude, beliefs, and lifestyles. Changes in lifestyles may result in different

values and priorities and can shift the consumers’ needs and wants.

First, concerns about the environment are constantly increasing and people become conscious

that the world is facing a major problem of pollution and lack of resources. There’s an

increasing urgency of the population to bring into operation new pro environmental

behaviors.23 They try to reduce their impact on environment. In response to this problem,

22 “What macro and micro environment affected the launch of Toyota Prius”. Edublogs. June 6th 2011. http://leonardwalto211.edublogs.org/ ( Febuary 2nd 2013)

23 GRISKEVICIUS, Vladas; TYBUR, Joshua M; VAN DER BERGH. “Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation”. BramJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2010, Vol. 98 (3), 392-404

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Toyota introduced the Prius and nowadays, this innovation is beneficial to the firm, because

of the growing demand for eco-friendly vehicles.

Another trend in the society is that more households are getting two revenues. As more

women are joining the workforce, the disposable income is increasing and more people can

afford to buy a more expensive car or to have a second. The Prius would be also considered as

a car, used frequently rather than a second car, used for commuting to work.

As families want to save money, Toyota is targeting a broader audience. Toyota hopes that

families will choose the Prius as an affordable family car with comfort, style and low cost

servicing.

Technological Forces

These one are the application of knowledge and creativity in solving problems and increasing

efficiency. Industries can get a competitive advantage if they can come up with technology

advances and new ideas. The Prius was the first hybrid car launched in the market.

Because of rising concerns about environment, pressure appeared on vehicle companies, in

order to develop green cars. Thus, Toyota saw this opportunity and responded to it by

introducing the first hybrid car in the world, the Prius. This one uses a combination of petrol

and electricity to power and motor and that leads to fuel economy. In addition, gas emissions

are lowered.

The Prius also uses new technologies. The “Solar Ventilation system” are panels embedded in

the roof that cool the cabin when it is parked during the day. The “Multi Information display”

provides feedback on fuel efficiency and power flow and the “Head up display” shows speed

and driving information on the car’s screen. There is also an intelligent parking assistance and

an active cruise control.24

Natural forces

First, we can outline natural factors like gasoline prices. Since summer 2004, oil prices have

been increasing so far. Consumers began to shift to vehicles that are more fuel efficient and

depend less of oil. Furthermore, fuel is a non-renewable resource. Thus, consumers are more

24 “Toyota Prius’ features cutting edge technology” [Online] http://www.toyota.com.au/prius/features/cutting-edge-technology (January 30th 2013)

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and more focusing on the environmental problems, and they prefer to buy a car with low

consumption and emission rather than any regular car.

The Toyota’s compromise with the environmental sustainability is expressed in its vision as

“Continued awareness for the Earth and environment” and “Lead the way to the future of

mobility”.25

Toyota’s strategy in response to the Marketing Environment

Based on the market environment, Toyota has adopted a strong and effective marketing

strategy to launch the Prius. The firm targeted first a specific consumer and then decided to

broaden its horizon. The market for this car can be divided into two major categories:

Customers (B2B) and consumers (private buyers).  Customers buy cars either for hire/rental

or for company fleets but these are few and already known to Toyota. The environmental

features make the Prius particularly interesting for business buyers, because of its low

operating cost.

Private people are the most important market. Consumers are either male or female and

between 30 and 50 years old. They are likely to be married and with family responsibilities.

Most part of them is well-informed and educated, and belongs to the upper-middle class.  

The target market identifies three profiles of potential buyers. First, the ‘techies’ are interested

in the latest technology and must be the first to own the car. Then the environmentally

friendly consumers are aware of the actual environmental issues. They would be keen on

buying an eco-friendly car because they know the impact of motoring for the earth.

Consumers also interested by values and looking for the ideal combination of high fuel

economy and low cost of maintenance in the long run, as families, are targeted by Toyota. All

three groups are likely to be exposed to the same degree of outdoor and ambient advertising.  

Prius got a strong strategy by launching a “green car” in a period where issues about the

environment and pollution seem to be a current question of debates. Toyota has used the

penetration pricing strategy. Therefore, politics have helped the car to become successful

thanks to the benefits granted to Prius’ owners.

25 TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION. “Vision & philosophy”. Toyota-Global.com [Online]http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/ (January 23rd 2013)

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As the demand for hybrid cars is elastic, and with a strong balance sheet, the company is able

to compete with other car makers in the United-States. Currently, Toyota controls about 16%

of the market share and has five major assembly plants in the U.S to support its distribution

network.26 The company did not offer online purchase facilities to the customers, but hired

marketing intermediaries to advertise the new hybrid. These intermediaries helped to provide

professional training to offer the best satisfaction. They also used taglines with emotions that

were very effective in this promotion.

Therefore, The Prius is promoted in different ways. Advertising, sales promotions and

personal selling are the most familiar ways of promotion. In addition, the Prius has appeared

in movies and TV shows. This car is driven by the main actor in CSI Miami, Weeds,

Superbad. Then, the car is sold at a competitive price, with the base model starting at

$19,080.27

The Prius is a car model that has a lot of benefits. We can outline its comfort, its good

performance. It has also a high scoring on crash tests, and a minimal impact on environment.

However, it remains reliant on fossil fuel which is non-renewable, and a special attention is

needed for repairs and servicing. In addition it requires many unique components that may

make long-term part availability difficult.

In the future, Toyota would have the opportunity to evolve into a “Plug-in Hybrid”28 with

higher capacity batteries and to spread into other market sectors. The company would also be

confronted to a high demand for hybrids since the awareness on environmental issues have

been increasing.

Unfortunately, various rumors attempting to undermine the Prius exist. These rumors serve to

decrease credibility or consumer confidence. For example, we can outline “I heard that Prius

is more damaging to the environment than a Hummer”, which is completely false.

26 “Toyota’s extensive history” [Online]http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1659853-Toyota-Motor-Corporation (January 30th 2013)

27 TOYOTA Co. Vehicles. Toyota.com [Online]http://www.toyota.com (January 23rd 2013)

28 DUNN, Max. “Case Study: The Toyota Prius”. Academia.edu. March 3rd 2010. http://www.academia.edu/239996/Prius_Marketing_Case_Study (January 30th 2013)

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The firm might also improve its strategy by offering a wider range of products. Currently,

there are only 4 types of Toyota Prius on the Market. The first model was very basic, Toyota

got a good idea to improve the second model, with specifically technological improvements.

Therefore, we can focus on its internal marketing, how Toyota could reduce its costs without

compromising the product’s quality and customers’ satisfaction.

As the world is running short of resources, especially fuel, Americans have decided to solve

the problem through introducing the Hybrid Technology. However nowadays, consumers still

prefer to buy more performing cars and big engines like trucks and so on. We can say that the

current approach to hybrids is seemed to be not working right now. Due to the last financial

crisis, people focus on cheapest prices and good value cars (compromise between quality and

price) and do not especially think about environment. Putting hybrid motors in each car do not

seem to be an efficient way nowadays. Although people are getting more concerned about

environmental issues, the approach to hybrids could be at its best in a few years. This

technology should be present in each car and presented like a “norm” for environment and

against pollution.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

KOTLER, ARMSTRONG, CUNNINGHAM & TRIFTS. Principles of Marketing.Toronto.

Eight Canadian, 2011.

Articles:

OZAKI, Ritsuko; SEVASTYANOVA, Katerina. ‘’Going hybrid: An analysis of consumer purchase motivations’’. Energy Policy, 2011, Vol. 39 (5), 2217-2227

GRISKEVICIUS, Vladas; TYBUR, Joshua M; VAN DER BERGH. ‘’Going Green to Be

Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation’’. BramJournal of Personality and

Social Psychology, 2010, Vol. 98 (3), 392-404

Websites:

BERMAN, Brad. ‘’ History of Hybrid Vehicles’’. Hybridcars. June 14 2011. [Online]

http://www.hybridcars.com/history-of-hybrid-vehicles/ (February 2nd 2013)

COBB, Jeff. ‘’ December 2012 Dashboard’’. Hybridcars. January 8th 2013. [Online]

http://www.hybridcars.com/december-2012-dashboard (January 30th 2013)

DUNN, Max. ‘’ Case Study: The Toyota Prius’’. Academia.edu. March 3rd 2010. [Online]

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