Toyota unveils radical redesign of sportier Prius hybrid

Global sales of the standard Prius hatchback peaked in 2010 at 509,380 units. By last year, it had plummeted to just 85,970. Overall, Toyota has sold over 4.7 million units since his 1997.

Production of the fifth-generation Prius begins The company’s Tsutsumi Assembly Plant In Toyota City in December. That’s where the outgoing version is built. Sales in Japan will begin in January. The new Prius will be launched in Europe and the United States from the beginning of next year.

In China, where Toyota ended sales of the Prius in 2016, its flagship hybrid vehicle will not be sold.

prius power

Here is the nut and bolt of what is being tapped.

Both the traditional Prius and the plug-in version will have a 2.0-liter engine mated to a new 4th generation lithium-ion battery. This is a step up from the outgoing model, with only a 1.8-liter engine and an optional older-generation Ni-MH battery on some grades.

Future Prius lower grades will keep the 1.8-liter option as the entry grade.

However, the US only has a 2.0 liter variant.

There is also an option for all-wheel drive using Toyota’s rear e-axle setup.

The standard 2.0-liter hybrid system has been adopted for the first time in the Corolla Cross Hybrid for Europe. The Prius will be the first time Toyota has combined a 2.0-liter engine with a plug-in.

In the old Prius, both the normal powertrain and the plug-in powertrain produced a total of 90 kilowatts (about 121 horsepower) of system power between the engine and the electric motor.

For the new model, the 2.0-liter standard hybrid delivers 144 kW (193 hp) and the plug-in achieves 159 kW (213 hp). The plug-in goes from 0 to 62 mph in 6.7 seconds, from a slow 11.1 seconds on the outgoing model. The standard takes 7.5 seconds versus 10.4 seconds.

Toyota says the PHEV’s EV mode range is increased by up to 50% over the outgoing version, depending on specifications such as wheel size.