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Toyota adds discounts to buoy sales of Tesla-powered RAV4 EV

Toyota is the latest automaker to roll out discounted leases and financing in an effort to boost sluggish sales of their all-electric vehicles.
Written by Kirsten Korosec, Contributor

Toyota is the latest automaker to roll out discounted leases and financing in an effort to boost sluggish sales of their all-electric vehicles.

Toyota is discounting its all-electric RAV4, a compact crossover powered by a Tesla Motors battery pack and motor, by offering low-cost leases and loan offers, reported Bloomberg. The offer—a $299-a-month three-year lease or a 60-month, no-interest loan—runs through Sept. 3 and is only available in the vehicle's main markets of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors have also offered discounted leases to their rechargeable vehicle models.

This is at least the second time in less than 12 months Toyota has discounted the all-electric Rav4. In December, Toyota took $5,000 off the MSRP sticker price of $49,900 to reward early adopters. They added $2,500 in loyalty cash when buyers traded in another Toyota product. That $7,500 discount is on top of the $7,500 federal tax rebate and California's own electric vehicle incentives. Altogether, consumers could have received up to $17,500 off of the Rav4 EV.

Toyota's past efforts didn't have much of an effect on sales. Toyota last year said it would sell 2,600 RAV4 vehicles by the end of 2014. At the end of July, just 709 had been delivered since sales began last September, reported Bloomberg.

The pressure is on for Toyota to sell the most rechargeable vehicles in California to meet the state's strict emissions rules.

Photo: Toyota

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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