Toyota Offers Cheaper Prius If Customers Take Software Updates

Toyota Motor Corp’s leasing device claimed on Wednesday it will start giving around-the-air basic safety updates on the new Prius, betting it can use an strategy pioneered by Tesla to lower lease selling prices and preserve made use of-vehicle values in Japan.

The lease plan will demand shoppers to opt in for a service expected to bring every month lease payments down by 10%, Toyota’s leasing affiliate reported.

The company marks the initial time Toyota will update its safety features, which includes the collision avoidance process, for a vehicle on the road, claimed Shinya Kotera, president of KINTO, the Toyota leaser device in Japan.

Tesla has routinely utilized over-the-air program updates to enhance charging velocity on its electric automobiles, unlock additional battery array and repair protection challenges.

Kotera reported Toyota’s tactic would concentrate on price for the just-introduced edition of the Prius, a 25-yr-outdated hybrid that the Japanese automaker sees as a pillar of its tactic even as other big automakers shift toward EVs.

“Tesla’s consumers are, to put it only, higher-earnings earners, and a lot of of them are willing to shell out for new and great matters so that’s why their items are a hit with that segment of the current market,” Kotera stated in an interview with Reuters on Friday.

“Toyota’s buyers are not like that. They are not someone who would shell out additional for a new technological know-how. They are hunting for a thing good, dependable and low-cost.”

Toyota unveiled the new Prius final month amid criticism from ESG buyers and environmental teams for its gradual rollout of completely electric cars.

The leasing device would like to develop the company to other automobiles in just a yr or two and is thinking about plans to make it a world wide featuring, Kotera claimed.