Is Leonardo Caprio lining up to exchange his old one for the new? The third generation Prius hybrid car was revealed yesterday by Toyota Motor Corp. The mid-sized sedan is the world’s highest selling ‘green’ car. The Japanese car maker is targeting still higher figures of 180,000 units of U.S. sales in the first 12 months and 400,000 globally by 2010. The car would be available in Japan and the United States in late spring, then gradually in other markets around the world. Toyota is ambitious about the new Prius, targeting sales in 80 countries, nearly double the number of current markets. Since its trailblazing introduction in 1997, the car has sold 1.7 million units. Compare that to Honda, which came out with its own hybrid, the ‘Insight’ , has sold just about 300,000 units since 1999.
The launch has come amidst a recession plagued market. Even in the US, Prius’s biggest domain, sales plunged by 45 percent last month decelerating sales by 13 percent. Nearly all major car manufacturer’s have been hit by stagnant consumer demand. To further challenge the hybrids, fuel prices have climbed down from their past peaks.
But Bob Carter, group vice president of Toyota Motor Sales told Reuters,
“We’re very bullish about the new Prius.”
He revealed that internal research pictured that 93 percent of Prius owners plan to stay with the Prius when they buy their next car, making the model a benchmark in owner satisfaction.
Third Generation Features
At the heart of the car is a 1.8 litre four cylinder engine. Possibly, it will give a city/highway mileage of 50 miles per gallon, an improvement over the 46 mpg for the current 2G model and 41 mpg for the first version. As speculated well before its launch, the car will add novelty through the sliding glass moon roof combined with solar panels that will power a ventilation system to circulate the interior air in the car. This will reduce the use of the air conditioner especially when the vehicle remains parked during hot summers. This feature though is an optional add-in at an extra cost. Among the other features are four driving modes, and a monitor-guided parking assist system.
Prius means ‘to go before’ in Latin. As far as hybrids go, it is certainly going where none have gone before.
Image Source; Flickr.com
