2010 Toyota Prius Clocks Up 180,000 Orders In Japan, Management Shake-up On The Way

As the adage goes, you take the good with the bad - something that Toyota is experiencing at the moment.

In the wake of Toyota's first loss in 71 years, reports are trickling in that Toyota has received a whopping 180,000 Japanese orders for the third-gen Prius within the space of a month - a good deal more than the 40,000 orders the company was expecting.

While the all-new Toyota Prius has been beaten to the Japanese market by the 2009 Honda Insight, Toyota's move to drop the price of the Prius appears to have given it a new competitive edge, while the tax-exempt status of hybrid vehicles in Japan has certainly helped its cause too.

The Insight, launched in Japan in February, has taken nearly 20,000 sales in its first three months on the market.

In other matters, according to The Financial Times, Toyota's June 23 annual shareholder's meeting will see both the official appointment of Akio Toyoda to Company President, along with a shake-up of senior management.

The company has announced that former Senior Executive Yoshimi Inaba has been coaxed back to Toyota to head-up the company's US operations, and, as part of a sweeping overhaul of its internal structures, Toyota is to replace up to 40 percent of its senior management at home and abroad.

The Motor Report contacted Toyota Australia for comment on local orders for the 2010 Toyota Prius, and while Public Relations Manager Mike Breen was reluctant to offer numbers, he confirmed that Australian orders have been taken for the new car.

He also confirmed that the Prius is on schedule for a July launch.

[via Reuters]