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Toyota lowering Prius sticker prices in California

For the citizens of the state that has the biggest impact on Prius sales, it's understandable that Toyota might be offering its biggest perks there. With the next-generation version of the world's most popular hybrid not likely to see the light of day until the 2016 model year, the Japanese automaker is looking to spur sales as a stopgap measure. And that's especially true for the Prius C compact and the Prius Plug-in Hybrid. Toyota has bumped incentives for potential Southern California buyers of the Prius C to about $2,000 off the MSRP, which is up from $750 and about the same size of the perk given to prospective Prius Plug-in buyers, according to numbers from CarsDirect. For the standard Prius Liftback and the Prius V wagon, Toyota increased its discounts by about $500. The perks went into effect April 1 and will last until May 4. Toyota spokeswoman Amanda Rice confirmed to AutoblogGreen that the $2,000 incentive for the Prius C is specifically for the 2014 model year, and that the 2015 model year spurs a $750 incentive. She also confirmed that Toyota this month increased standard Prius lift back cash-back offer to $1,750 from $1,250, though amount offered can change by region. "While we will do what is necessary to remain competitive, Toyota's practice is to always lead with the product, not the deal," Rice wrote in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen. "The use of our incentives is tactical, reinforcing our value and focus on keeping our products competitive in the market." The Prius family was California's most popular passenger vehicle in 2012 and 2013, but sales since then have fallen off. Through the first quarter, US Prius sales were down 14 percent from a year earlier after falling 11 percent last year to about 207,000 units. A Toyota representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from AutoblogGreen on the increased incentives in the face of reduced sales. Related Videos:

PSA: Toyota wants to save your life, needs an hour of your time

Toyota wrote Autoblog to ask if we could spread the word about the Takata airbag inflator recall. Defective inflators remain installed in tens of millions of cars made by 19 carmakers, with manufacture dates that go back to the year 2000. Each inflator compounds the risk of serious injury or death in an airbag-activating crash. With a new ad campaign called "in about an hour," Toyota wants to make sure that unaware owners, or overly busy owners, know they can get their Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles repaired free of charge in about the time it takes to do a load of laundry. The campaign focuses on cities in three so-called Zone A states where hot, humid climates worsen the threat of the ruptured inflators: Los Angeles, Dallas, and Miami. However, every owner everywhere who cares about his life, or his child's life, should at least check to see if his car is affected. All it takes is a quick VIN entry at the dedicated recall site at Toyota.com/Recall. The results will let you know if your car is affected and, if so, locate a local dealer for the free fix. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said the Takata affair has become "the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history." The numbers so far suggest the recall covers more than 42 million vehicles and more than 60 million airbags. Autoweek keeps an updated list of Takata information, including every make and model on the recall list. Consumer Reports published a list of frequently asked questions covering issues directly related and tangential to the recall. The 19 automakers maintain pages dedicated to the issue; Fiat Chrysler lists every relevant model and how it prioritizes repairs by Zone, Honda says it offers a free rental car while owner cars are repaired, Daimler vans says its fix only takes about an hour. And of course NHTSA serves all owners with its own VIN lookup site. We encourage you to check your vehicle — the life you save could be your own. Related Video:

Major Alexa deal will bring Amazon services into more cars

Amazon and its personal assistance service Alexa are partnering with HERE Technologies to create a new connected mobility service powerhouse. Alexa will integrate with HERE's navigation and location services to offer what the two companies are calling a "true voice-first-navigation experience." Alexa will come pre-integrated with HERE navigation on-demand, which the automakers can then enable, which should help cut down on development time. One of the biggest features from this partnership is how directions could be offered and delivered using HERE's Open Location Platform (OLP). Currently, the OLP uses data from several car manufacturers to provide insights into real-time location and traffic. But on Alexa, this could be used to provide directional context. For example, Alexa could say, "Turn right after [such-and-such a building]" rather than just, "Turn right." Amazon has been testing the automotive waters throughout the past decade. Its home-based Alexa-enabled devices are already offered with connections to several manufacturers. To various degrees of integration, it can already pair with Ford, Genesis, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai and BMW vehicles. At the end of 2018, Amazon took things a step further when it introduced the Echo Auto, a Bluetooth-connected Alexa assistant device that can be physically kept in a car. Currently only available by invitation (its production and distribution have been delayed), the $25 device is essentially a voice service that works together with smartphones and connects to a car's speakers. Users can command it to do a variety of things, including playing music, setting navigation, opening the garage door, finding local stores, making calls, setting reminders, and thousands of other "skills." According to The Verge, nearly 1 million people have already ordered the device. Some (well, probably few) may know HERE Technologies from its maps on Windows Phones. We all know how that turned out, though. Today, HERE has expanded into a multi-function suite that is available in multiple mediums, including many automotive applications. HERE Automotive's connected vehicle services include real-time traffic, parking, weather, fuel prices, hazard warnings, traffic sign integration, and even EV charging stations. These all incorporate and extend the use of HERE's location and tracking programming. HERE is already partnered with BMW, Audi, Daimler, Intel, Mobileye, NVIDIA, and has investments from Bosch, Continental and Pioneer.