Toyota Prius: Power of Excellence in Marketing, Research Paper Example

The introduction of the Toyota Prius to the market by the Toyota Motor Corporation was a breakthrough innovation and marketing strategy of the company, which is leading in the automobile industry. The company has an objective of competing effectively in the global market and it believed that the introduction of the innovative products to the market would give the company a competitive advantage as compared to its rivals in the industry.

In what stage of the product life cycle is the Toyota Prius? Explain

There are different stages of product life cycle. First, there is the introduction phase, which is stage 1 and the Prius was introduced in 2000 a decade ago. The second phase is the market growth that the Prius attained faster. In fact, it was so fast that Toyota’s manufacturing could not sustain with the increasing demand for the model; therefore, the company had to back off the marketing campaign to avoid inconveniencing the customers. Stage 3 is the maturity stage, which is followed by decline stage, which is stage 4. The Prius is in the maturity stage since it has a huge amount of rivalry from other automobile manufacturers, which implies that the market is flooded with numerous hybrids. Corporations such as Ford, Honda, as well as Hyundai all offer hybrid cars to their customers. The stage is always characterized by high competition when compared to other stages in the market. The company understands that they face immense competition and they always strive to launch new products that are innovative to maintain its customers and attract new one in the market. The company is only getting modest profits from their Prius because of the increased completion that provides better, novel, and cheaper models of their car. The rivalry for Hybrids is high; however, Toyota has been trusted as the original innovator of Hybrid vehicles and their continued introduction of different hybrid model satisfy the marketplace.

Describe the marketing strategies being followed by Toyota for the Prius?

Initially, the company targeted youthful, technology savvy, leading-edge customers, which represented a potential market for the company because of their lifestyle. The company priced the car under twenty thousand so that they can make the car affordable in the market, and although the sales were low at the start, Prius Genius was a success. Within some few years, the rivalry for “green” cars grew substantially, Toyota started to not only maintains; however, they increased their market share through expanding their product offerings in the market to accommodate a more diverse group of customers. The Prius got a much bigger market share, accommodating households, and are currently offering four diverse Prius product lines, which are mainly the Prius V, the Prius plug-in, the Prius C, and the Prius. The company did not stop there, they have continued to expanding their Hybrid technology.

Do you think Toyota should convert other vehicles to hybrid version?

The company should convert its cars into hybrid version because Prius, which was a hybrid model, proved to be successful in the market. Many customers felt that the model was less expensive as compared to alternatives. They should continue using penetration-pricing strategy to build effective market share, other than skim pricing approach of setting the prices high. This will give the company a competitive advantage, hence gaining more market share than its rivals do.