Prius

Week 2 – In-class Assignment (ICA)

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Prius: Leading a Wave of Hybrids

Review the Prius case (Principals Chapter 3, page 103), complete a SWOT and answer the following questions individually.

STRENGTHS: | WEAKNESSES: |

OPPORTUNITIES: | THREATS: |

1. What micro environmental factors affected the first and second generation models of Prius?

The first generation Prius was a mock up of the new design with little thought of the overall design of the interior and exterior of the car. This having to do with Toyota spending much of their time and consideration focusing on fuel efficiency rather than the car as a whole. Having very poor promotional marketing towards the vehicle the car had no spot light when it came to consumers eyes which led to a poor start for Prius.

The second generation Prius had gone back to the drawing board and arrived for consumer purchase with a sleeker exterior and a comfier more tech oriented interior. This tech craze of the generation was a perfect opportunity to market this new technologically advanced car. The Prius had targeted their audience to the new tech savvy generation whom went and tweaked the cars electronics such as the in dash display screen. This created a lot of word of mouth which resulted in many of the techies (the new upcoming generations) to buy the Prius.

2. Explain how each of the macro environmental factors have affected Prius sales? How has Toyota handled each?

Toyota had not expected Prius to take over like they did in such a fast amount of time in North America. This created a huge line up for the new efficient car which resulted in a wait time to own the vehicle. In the poor economy this stimulation for Toyota enabled them to boost pricing nearly $5000 dollars above the standard retail pricing. As the automobile market was in a rut having to offer incentives to move vehicles, Toyota had gained a larger percentage of the American as well as...