The Prius Could be Getting Smaller…and Bigger
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 11. 2.06
The success of Toyota’s Pruis hybrid may compel the company to expand the line. New members of the Prius family could include a mini city car, and some species of crossover sport utility. Bloomberg.com reported that the executive vice president of U.S. sales, Jim Lentz, said that the inertia of the Prius’ success could justify a diversifying of the brand, and help the company meet its goal to triple annual sales. Bloomberg quotes Lentz, saying that a smaller (and more efficient) cousin of the Prius would fit with “a trend toward people moving into inner-city lofts.'' He also said a beefier version could fill the want for people who “want to see more utility on the vehicle, so you could imagine something that's a little more utility or crossover-based.'' Pictured above is Toyota’s Endo, a concept car turned real that will be seen soon on the Asian market. No word on what alternate incarnations of the Prius might look/perform like, but the Endo could be a clue. :: Bloomberg via Hugg (Linton)
Great news! More types of vehicles will attract more buyers, and since it's based on the Prius, we can probably assume that they'll use the hybrid system mostly for fuel economy rather than power.
Why not just put a hybrid system in the Yaris? The Yaris is way cooler than that freaky thing in the picture.
"Toyota Endo? Smell mo' like Toyota Outdo'"
"Rolling down the street in my Endo / Sippin' on gin & juice"
Anyone? Anyone? Is this thing on?
But seriously, do car companies do this on purpose sometime? Like the Mercedes Benz E420. What's next? The Honda Reefer or Nissan Hashpipe?
toyota practice corporate double speak ... they make the prius which has us all thinking its wonderful ... and they also make the amazon SUV which is one of the worst gas guzzlers of all
the reality is that they could make the equivalent of a 100mpg prius NOW, but they wont ... as a prius owner i know this ... i've asked them and shown them the technology to do it .... they won't engage ... appauling customer service
see cal cars in the US or goin green in the UK if you want it done, although toyota will not encourage you and invalidate your warranty at the same time
i'm getting rid of my prius for a g wizz ... see goin green in the UK
We owned the new generation Prius and an Audi A3 Diesel running on Biodiesel. The Audi produced a fraction of the greenhouse gasses that the Prius generated. The answer is a diesel engined hybrid. On the open road the Prius is not very fuel effiecient because of the small motor. With carefull driving in the Audi I managed just over 4 litres of diesel per 100km. We traded the Prius for a new Discovery TD and with careful driving and running on Biodiesel it also generates less greenhouse gas than the Prius!