[tryoty]

Prius voted Most Attractive LUXURY? car in Japan

"Toyota Prius earns praise from Japanese consumers

When it comes to their view of overall appeal and luxury, Japanese
automotive consumers apparently have a far different perspective than their counterparts in the U.S. marketplace. The Toyota Prius, a gasoline-electric hybrid, was rated as the most-attractive luxury car in Japan, according to a recent consumer survey done by Nikkei Research Incorporated. The Honda Odyssey minivan finished second in the poll, followed by the Toyota Estima minivan. Nikkei’s survey covered 180 domestic and foreign automobiles with price tags exceeding US$23,650. Japanese consumers gave high ratings to the Prius for its fuel-efficiency, outstanding electric technology, and trend-setting features. The Odyssey was valued for its excellent egress and ingress, and the Estima gained praise for its spacious interior. (Asia Pulse)"

 

[Tideland Prius]

luxury doesn't mean it has to have wood and leather and a power moonroof. That's why Toyota has been offering their top models a choice with or without leather (Camry and previous Avalon) but still including all the other luxury features such as power driver's seat, premium cloth, automatic climate control, trip computer, automatic dimming mirror, alloy wheels and so on

 

[hyperion]

But in the US and probably Europe the Prius would be close to the bottom of the "Luxury" category, In fact, Toyota would not even list it as such.. The better term according to the stats quoted should be "Popular."

 

[flare]

but then you have smart key and such things as nav, bluetooth, HID that you'll only find in cars over 35k

 

[hyperion]

Yes, but since you are selecting luxury in Japan why would you pick a Prius over the Lexas? Fuel economy should not take precedence in the luxury category.

 

[ken1784]

They use the word "LUXURY", but the category range is just "price tags exceeding US$23,650".
That's all.

Regards,
[email protected]

 

[dontcheff]

But in the US and probably Europe the Prius would be close to the bottom of the "Luxury" category, In fact, Toyota would not even list it as such.. The better term according to the stats quoted should be "Popular."

The 80s are over Then, in Europe, Mercedes was the only luxury brand. Now, name cannot be tagged as luxury or not. Brands have several models. And yes, Toyota can be named "popular" in Europe but so can be probably most of the other well-known brands.

Now. it is models that compete for the word luxury.

 

[hyperion]

You'll know if you see the Cadillac replacing the Mercedes in Saudi Arabia.

 

[DanMan32]

Also the Prius marketed in Japan has lots of cool stuff, especially in the AV department.

 

[hyperion]

Please explain AV

 

[DanMan32]

Audio-Visual

 

[C.Rickey Hirose]

Audio Visual ?

Please explain AV

DanMan32 meant, AV department: as Audio-Visual-Comunication devise.

Perhaps ? A lot of Cool gadgets in Prius.

 

[hyperion]

What kind of audio visual can be purchased in Japan?

 

[C.Rickey Hirose]

MFD in Audio-Visual

What kind of audio visual can be purchased in Japan?

It is way too cool to watch the self parking mode displayed on MDF .
Front - side - rear. The stealth operation of self parking. ! Whilst here in the US we the driver's eyes are the AV. we watch-out. Measure the distance-Brain faction here ! Look and measure before parking in a tight spot, ones brain says Nah,= can not make it too tight! but the AV display
you can actually see how the computer does it and teach you how !

I guess that's one of the AV function. DVD play back, TV reception. Send
email or receive fax ? Of course the Telephony...but the Self Parking !

Way too cool in Japan for the AV !

 

[jeromep]

Other countries have very different views of what is and isn't a luxury car, or even what is and isn't a large car.

When I was in college I had the pleasure of going out to dinner with some people from the U.K. (nice folks, that was a fun evening) and some coworkers. I was one of the folks that ended up driving all of us to dinner. I had on board a couple of brits who commented about how large my car was for a college student and in comparison to what their families had in their garages, if anything at all. What did I drive in college, a Mid-80s Ford compact.

The point being that my car was both large and moderately luxurious to them. Certainly not to me. It didn't have power anything, but it did have A/C and cruise and an automatic, and to them that was also a sign of a luxury car.

 

[dontcheff]

For most Europeans, all American cars are very big. Ships You cannot park them anywhere in downtown (in Europe). Not to mention that you have to carry a portable petrol station with you if you have one of those

It's probably somehow nice to have such a big car but that is not luxury for me.

 

[The.Tramp]

The point being that my car was both large and moderately luxurious to them. Certainly not to me. It didn't have power anything, but it did have A/C and cruise and an automatic, and to them that was also a sign of a luxury car.

In Italy, automatic is STILL considered luxury (96% of cars are manual) and, up to 1995, A/C was luxury too!

 

[Tideland Prius]

I guess it depends on standard features. Here, I take it for granted that any car above Cdn$20,000 (e.g. top line Corollas, Civics, Mazda3s, Sentras) will have cruise control as standard equipment but I noticed everywhere else, cruise is optional. I think the same can be said for alloys.

Actually, come to think of it, while watching Top Gear shows (UK), I noticed they always mention these few things about a car - CD player, alloys and A/C.