According to Toyota, the company has received around 14,000 pre-orders for their new SAI hybrid sedan that is scheduled to go on sale in Japan early next month.
Toyota did not anticipate a sales volume of this magnitude. According to the company, they had set a sales target of only 3,000 units per month, but pre-orders are nearly five times higher than expectations.
Toyota claims that the vehicle's widespread appeal and amount of pre-orders are due in large part to the midsize vehicles exceptional fuel economy which is comparable to most compact cars and to tax incentives which provides buyers with up to $3,150 off the listed price.
The SAI hybrid was unveiled just over a month ago. The vehicle is a dedicated hybrid model and is essentially a badge engineered Lexus HS250h. The SAI starts at only $38,020, a competitive price once incentives are factored in.
This is not the first time that Toyota has under estimated the pre-orders of hybrid models. Recently, the company underestimated sales of both the new Prius and the aforementioned Lexus HS250h hybrid models. With high demand, Toyota could put potential buyers on a waiting list as they have done previously with other hybrid models.
Source: Reuters.com
