Interested in the new 2010 Toyota Prius? Take a number. A very, very large number.
Reuters reports, "Toyota Motor Corp, under pressure ahead of a scheduled management shake-up, has won 75,000 orders for its new Prius hybrid, the Nikkei business daily said, promising a fierce battle for Honda Motor Co's rival Insight hybrid."
The report refers only to Japanese pre-orders, but it has two impacts on the U.S. market. First, it may signal an intense battle between the two cars when they arrive here over the next several months. Second, Toyota builds the Prius in Japan for shipment to the U.S., so a backlog of orders there could impact the car's availability here.
Toyota could use the good news. Autoblog notes, "The automaker lost $7.7 billion last quarter, and the perennially successful operation expects to lose $8.6 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010. Toyota is also replacing 40% of its executive ranks as company scion Akio Toyoda takes over the company next month."
If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.
