Why 2011 Prius V and 2012 Prius v

You have a Toyota XR450LZ! They are SO rare.
Lucky

 

+1 I've owned 2 Toyota's and 4 Honda's, but Honda (marketing) has lost their way IMO.

• Not only has the Insight been a flop relative to the Prius,
• the Accord Hybrid was surprisingly ill-conceived - a muscle hybrid, really?,
• the Civic Hybrid hasn't done particularly well,
• the new CRZ is mind-boggling. The CRZ review titled Honda CR-Z: 122 HP, 33 MPG, Worst Of All Worlds speaks volumes.
• The Element was a flop with it's Gen X target market and appealed instead to boomers - marketing was clueless. And the Element is now being discontinued without a redesign, undoubtedly due in part to being way too similar to the CRV.

Just a few examples of awful Honda marketing, and they used to be top notch...

 

Very true! I recall reading about, puzzling: why marry hybrid powertrain with their V6 Accord.

One similar marriage that does seem more attractive: the Toyota Highlander hybrid. I mean: some people need that kind of vehicle, and here's one with seriously better mileage than the competition, the non-hybrid Highlander model for starters. The big stumbling block is the hybrid premium though.

 

The 2010 Prius was advertised with all the Roman numerals, but it's not just Toyota's problem. Lots of people pronounce Mac OS "X" as ex when it's more properly Ten. Almost everybody says "o" for the number 0 when it's more properly zero.

The new system of One through Five should eventually eliminate this problem.

 

Poor Toyota, they decided for the 2011 model year to drop the Roman numerals and just refer to the different versions as 1 thru 5, nobody paid any attention. I was told by my dealer that I bought a Prius 2, not a Prius II. Did Toyota drop that idea? I assume that was to avoid confusion when the V came out, oh well.

 

Amen.

 

Hope so. Meanwhile the confusion continues, made worse by a "v" for "versatility". Like, huh??!!

In my simple consumer mind, versatility is a terrible choice of word. It implies that the other versions are not versatile when in fact they all are to various degrees. Versatility is not a characteristic exclusive to the new wagon version, IMO.

If it was me, I'd use "w" for wagon. w describes the car much more accurately, without creating any confusion in consumers' minds.

Prius Product Marketing simply dropped the ball on this one and they should seriously re-evaluate their branding convention.

 

But they may not advertise it as such so it may come to be known as simply the Prius "vee." Just like how nobody really knows what the i in iMac, iPod, etc. stands for.

However, "wagon" isn't a good choice because nobody wants to be seen buying a wagon. That term is way too 1980s soccer momish.

 

How did they inform you that verbally? "You bought a Prius 'two', not a Prius 'two'"

 

I was told they dropped the use of roman numerals as model designations for the '11.

 

Yes, I know. I was just making fun of them for saying II isn't Two, because II is by definition (and pronunciation) two.

 

Boy do I feel dumb, but now I'm laughing

 

There are many cars with numeric names that I would have loved to have among them - the Toyota MR2, the Nissan 350Z and the Mazda MX-5 (otherwise known as the Miata). None are super macho cars, but all were/are great to drive.

On the flip side there are some cars that come way short of their name - the Malibu, the Sebring, the Liberty and in my mind the worst of them all the PT Cruiser all come to mind - all are cars that I would even shudder at renting.

 

Electric motors do have performance advantages (high torque at 0 rpm) in addition to energy efficiency advantages. I think the problem is that most buyers of hybrids are looking for the fuel economy advantages. Manufacturers start to get fancy, like with the Accord hybrid, and lose touch with what most hybrid buyers want: high mpgs. The current Highlander Hybrid is an example. Sure, it beats any competition with 3 rows in fuel economy, but why not take it a step further?

Why not offer it without AWD and with a smaller gas engine, leave out some heavy options like power seats and get a few more mpgs out of it? That stuff would cut the price premium, too. Offer AWD and 270hp and towing capability as an option or on the Limited trim. Doing that, I think they'd sell more than 5k or 10k a year or whatever small number they sell now.

 

The problem is, Toyota did not run this past me for "common sense checking"

*sigh*

The Roman numerals are supposed to be for the generations, only. The package designations are to be in standard numerals, preceded by the word "package". Different body styles need a name, such as "Prius wagon", "Prius city car", and "Prius truck".

I was sure I had this discussion, in Detroit, with Doug. Didn't we discuss this, Doug?

Doug?

 

Point is, "v" stands for Versatility, but it is difficult to make a word in common parlance into a trade name. So, "v", which as far as I know has not been used as a model designation.

Maybe they were ducking the whole trade name issue, where bad choices are legion (my favorite is the Olds Achieva! Egads, what were they thinking?! I am SO glad the 90's are long over.) Still. I like the Venza, Camry, Corolla, etc, none of which mimic a word in parlance.

Perhaps we can suggest a better name for the model? If the brand is spun off, instead of the Toyota Prius v, we would have the Prius....? Not wagon. No one uses that designation these days. How about Prius Shooting Brake? Hmm, ...?

 

I don't understand why they did not simply call it worldwide either "+" like in EU, or "a" (for alpha) like in JP.

Instead now they have 3 different names for the same car in 3 different regions, not to mention the confusion in the US as per OP.

I am listening right now to the PC Podcast Show, and Danny and Russell are mentioning trademarks problems. So maybe "+" cannot be trademarked in the US, as well as "a" (greek letter) - but still, not be able to trademark the same name in at least 2 regions...
They could have called it Verso (as in EU for another model), but maybe Verso means something weird in Anglophone speaking countries???

BTW: if you put "prius v" in Google, the first hits that come up are about the 2012 Prius v/+/alpha and not the 2009/2010 Prius V (US trim V)

 

Can't call it Prius + in US or Japan because that'll be confused with the Prius Plus package!