Last month we showed you spy photos of Honda's Prius-fighting hybrid testing in the desert, and now we have confirmation that the dedicated hybrid will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October. The hybrid-only model, which looks awfully Prius-like when camo'd, will carry many styling cues from the handsome FCX Clarity. The Honda hybrid will go on sale in 2009, will start at under $20k and is rumored to achieve at least 60 mpg. Honda plans to build 200,000 units per year, with half of the production coming to our shores. The Honda hybrid will utilize a smaller, lighter version of the 1.3L engine from the Civic hybrid, with a CVT transmission and a nickel metal hydride battery pack.
The still unnamed hybrid hatch is just one piece of Honda's larger goal of producing 500k hybrids a year by 2012. Honda is also planning a battery-assisted Fit sub-compact, a new Civic hybrid, and a production version of the CR-Z coupe concept. We're excited to see Honda's dedicated hybrid, which will be the first real competition to the Prius and an honest to goodness alternative for the American consumer.
Hybrid vehicles have the potential to save a few bucks at the pump, but advocates for the blind have continued to warn about their potential to harm to the seeing impaired. Lotus' automotive consultancy arm is trying to avert the risk of hybrids quietly running in electric mode with its "Safe and Sound" demo car.
This specially equipped Toyota Prius has been fitted a waterproof speaker mounted above the radiator that can emit a sound similar to a flat-six or V8, based off the vehicle's speed and throttle position. Once the internal combustion engine kicks in, the system is muted, allowing the 1.5-liter inline four to sing its siren song.
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If vehicles could be sainted, stained-glass artists all over the U.S. would be busy figuring out the best colors for the Toyota Prius to shine in. Brand new examples of the motorized mollusk that everyone can't wait to buy spend just five days on dealer lots. Last year's model lasts just fifteen days more.
The real coup, however, is in the prices. An unused Prius requires about $26,672 to take home. The used version, with fewer than 10,000 miles, goes for around $27,945. That's right, nearly $1,300 more. More incredible: a 2007 model with more than 22,000 miles will only save you $276 compared to the price of a shiny new 2008. We're not sure you can even call that depreciation.
Toyota is increasing Prius production, but that'll take a moment to be felt on dealer lots. In the mean time, if you absolutely have to have a hybrid, we see a Malibu in your future...
New spy photos of Toyota's next-gen Prius have surfaced on the web, and for the first time we're looking at an actual prototype rather than a mere mule built out of pieces and parts from the current-gen Prius. The new spy shots reveal that the 2010 Prius will indeed retain the current five-door hatchback shape of the current model but will grown in both length and width. While NextAutos is reporting that the Prius will become more powerful with a larger engine (Car and Driver reports that a 1.6L Atkinson four-cylinder will replace the current 1.5L from the old Echo), we're hearing that it will continue to use nickel-metal hydride batteries rather than newer lithium-ion batteries. Toyota is, after all, building a whole new factory in Japan to produce more nickel-metal hydride batteries that should be operational in 2010. Even with the larger engine, the new Prius will get better gas mileage than the current model, and the Prius range is expected to grow at some point with new models like a station wagon and convertible. The next-gen Prius that will kick things off is expected to debut at this year's Detroit Auto Show in January
If the Prius went mainstream when Toyota bumped production to 280,000 worldwide units per year in 2007, the fuel efficient hybrid is now primed to kick project green to the next level. When Toyota begins producing the next gen Prius, it'll do so with more factory space than ever dedicated to the universal symbol for fuel efficiency, making it possible to produce 480,000 vehicles per year. The Japan-based Tsutsumi factory, which currently builds five different vehicles, will stop making the JDM Wish minivan to allow for more Priuses. Even more Prius capacity will be available beginning in 2010, when the Japanese automaker's new Mississippi plant comes online and begins to produce more of the hybrid.
With the meteoric rise in gas prices, the Prius has gone from a yuppie green statement for politicians and suburbanites to a means for the masses to travel around town without breaking the bank. $4 per gallon gas and a continued lack of competition means Toyota could probably double production again and still sell every Prius it makes.
To feed the insatiable demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, and follow the striking success of the Toyota Prius, the Japanese automaker will introduce a second hybrid-only vehicle in 2009. The all-new model will have a 2- to 2.5-liter engine, suggesting it will be larger than their current popular four-door hybrid (the Prius uses a 1.5-liter gasoline powerplant). The new model will be sold side-by-side with the Prius, Camry Hybrid and Highlander Hybrid. Toyota will also sell a rebadged version under the upscale Lexus brand, where it will join the LS Hybrid, GS Hybrid, and RX Hybrid. Toyota's master plan is to sell 1 million hybrid vehicles annually throughout the world, and considering the market, there's little doubt that the automaker can pull it off. Toyota's next hybrid debut is scheduled for Detroit in January, and we'll be there to cover it.
Honda's oft-discussed, yet never spied Prius-fighter has been caught by the merry minions at KGP. A parade of three cars were shot in the desert, including the prototype you see above, a facelifted Civic Hybrid and the new model's arch rival, the Toyota Prius.
While the cloaked mule's shape could be easily mistaken as a Prius, the two-tier instrument cluster is a dead giveaway of the prototype's Honda origins. The nose is notably lower than its Toyota competition and although the hatch is an obvious rip on the Prius' aerodynamic rear, the fenders have a discernibly steeper angle, along with a trunk lid sporting a small spoiler.
The unnamed hybrid from Honda will make its debut at the Paris Motor Show later this year, and will adopt many of the design cues found on the big H's hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity sedan.
Toyota's got some changes and rearranges underway with its North American facilities to better serve the demands of the market. The biggest news is that Prius production will be coming Stateside, which will help unkink the supply pipeline, if not also lower costs. A new facility in Blue Springs, Mississippi is being readied for the battery-pack-mobile, though the location was initially meant to turn out Highlanders. With consumer desires shifting with the rise of fuel prices, cranking out more Priuses is a higher priority, and beginning in fall 2009, the Highlander will shuffle off to Princeton, Indiana. With the Highlander elbowing its way into the Princeton plant, the vehicle currently produced there, the Tundra, will see its production move under a single roof in San Antonio, Texas.
The big-truck moves are of little consequence when the plants are scheduled to be idled beginning August 8th due to lack of demand. Huntsville, Alabama will also hold up on cranking out V8 engines. While Toyota is putting some plants in neutral, it pledges to provide employment to affected team members during the shutdown. All of this shuffling is an attempt by Toyota to avoid sustaining humongous hits as the market for new cars takes a dump, as well as ensuring that the products it remains building match up with consumer desires. Always a good thing to make the things people want.
The Nikkei business daily in Japan is reporting that the next generation Prius – due out next year as a 2010 model – will supposedly be fitted with solar panels to power a variety of electrical accessories, including the air conditioning. The source informed Nikkei that the solar panels, which would be a first on a production vehicle offered by a major automaker, would be equipped on "high-end" versions of the Prius. There was no mention of what kind of premium Toyota will charge for the solar-equipped Prius, but it confirms earlier reports that ToMoCo plans to expand its lineup of hybrid models.
If you read our post yesterday that talked about a lithium Ion-powered plug-in Prius for 2010, thoughts of 100 mpg cars may have danced in your head. Well, take it easy, because the think tank over at Toyota doesn't want you to get your hopes too high. Toyota Advanced Technology manager Bill Reinert spoke in Washington yesterday at a plug-in conference and said that real-world driving conditions will make 100 mpg unattainable for many drivers. While plugging in more powerful batteries will give drivers a full battery and greater EV range, hard acceleration could limit electric-only driving to well under 40 miles.
While it's nice of Toyota to give a plug-in reality check to an efficiency-hungry public, we don't think this message is going to get through to the masses. Besides, if Toyota's next-gen hybrids can reach anything close to 100 mpg, we think shoppers of fuel-efficient vehicles will be too busy foaming at the mouth to even notice.
