The Toyota Prius came to be a fighter in this war. A hybrid electric car, one of the first of its kind to be mass produced and marketed, working with traditional petrol fuel and an electric engine. This dual fuel engine is capable of producing electrical power, avoiding contamination and relieving your pocket from petrol money.
Not at all expensive for the technology and engineering involve in it, Toyota came to the market with this innovating product crossing into multiple market segments but mainly to reach middle class educated people in developed urbanised countries. Once Toyota identified the target market, they started promoting education through websites beginning with a main geographical segmentation in Japan and moving afterwards to the USA. The California Air Resources Board, (also known as CARB), rate the Prius as “among the cleanest vehicles sold in the United States based on smog-forming emissions”. Educated aware middle class or wealthy still “nesting” people could find the Prius as an excellent choice for their children with a driver license. It should be the parent’s responsibility to instruct their children on global warming.
The Prius positions itself not only as eco-friendly but also as a lifestyle with a practical way of travelling in the city with latest technology and a smooth ride promoting huge safes on fuel. Due to oil crisis in the United States, fuel prices heavily increased and Toyota saw in this market niche a business opportunity and another position for the Prius: a car with a very low gas bill attached. Afterwards expanding to other big cities for the same segment and positioning itself on the same basis.
At that time Honda was the