Going green just got less expensive!
Toyota is trimming the price of the Camry Hybrid by $1,000 for the 2008 model year!

The Toyota Camry is supposedly the most loved car in the USA. So far the common consumers could not make it up beyond the gas only version of this prized Toyota model; thanks to a restrictive price tag.

But now on they will be able to afford a Toyota Camry Hybrid— Toyota has cut the price of the Camry Hybrid by $1,000 for the 2008 model year. (Source: Auto News). Now you will get your Camry hybrid for $25,860. Though still dearer by $5,400 than the gasoline only variant, the US consumers have now at least the choice of going green without needing to go far beyond their budget. So no wonder, Toyota’s decision to cut down on the price of their most popular model—Camry—was greeted with much euphoria.

This price cut can have a much greater socio-economic impact than mere individual gains by few thousand dollars. It will give a tough competition to the other hybrid manufacturers and reach out to the larger segment of consumers who can fulfill their dreams of owning hybrid cars at a lesser price.

There was a time when cars used to be the prized possession of the resourceful owners. Gradually, cars came to be synonymous with the middle class living in the developed countries. By the end of the last century, cars were able to make an inroad to the garages of the middle class people in the developing countries too.

This is an age, when we can not imagine our lives sans a private means of transportation and it is the trend that is slowly but steadily gripping the developing countries of Asia and South America.

If the developed nations have added to the largest share of world’s Green House emission in the last century, the new millennium is witnessing the developing nations as the emerging contributors to the global pollution.

But there is a silver lining in the cloud—the present generation car owners in the USA are more conscious about their surroundings than their fathers or grand fathers used to be. And this growing concern about their environment is reflected in the growing size of the hybrid car market. And the industry as a whole receives huge impetus with the decision like this by the industry majors.

But how could Toyota achieve this price trimming?
To make the price drop possible, they had to cut some previously standard equipment such as JBL audio system, leather steering wheel and shift knob, Homelink, and electrochromic mirror with compass. At $25,860 you will now get a hybrid powertrain, steel wheels, and a single CD player.

The immediate response and industry predictions
• Although this cut off on the standard equipments for slashing off the price has been criticized by many quarters, the general response to this decision is positive; you no longer have to pay for what you don’t require necessarily. It is welcome for a class of consumers for whom driving hybrid car is more important than counting on the luxury features of the vehicle.
• Although driving hybrid cars prove to be more beneficial in the long run, owning hybrid car requires you to make a considerable down payment of cash at the beginning. But, a drop in the price attracts more buyers in the entry level hybrid vehicle market.

Fuel efficient, performance driven hybrid cars are no rare phenomena in the US roads. So a drop in the price alone can not take the Camry hybrid’s sale too far. It will become real challenge for the other hybrid makers, when the engineers back in Japan achieve further hybrid efficiencies with their Camry hybrid.