2nd Gen Prius Plug-In already in the works? September 2016 release noted

The path is in no way clear yet.

Mainstream sales are far from achieved.

Innovation is required to appeal to ordinary consumers. That is still in the construction stage.

 

Toyota perfected the hybrid system but I don't think they are going to lead in taking that to the next level, which in my opinion involves a plug. Over 100,000 cars with plugs were sold in the US last year and Toyota wasn't among the leaders (4% market share which is 9th on the list so not completely a no-show). I don't think the Gen IV platform is going to lend itself to serious EV driving, but we shall see, maybe they will surprise us with the gen-2 PiP. Look at Kodak with film and where they are today.

 

100,000 cars is a drop in an ocean. from a sales point of view, plug in's are a massive failure. the future? no one knows.

 

How quickly do you expect a new type of vehicle, requiring a different refueling behavior to get to 100,000 sales?

You will get no disagreement from me that they have a long way yet to go, but hybrids didn't "take off" any quicker.

 

no argument. but at this point, toyota hasn't been proven wrong.

 

Wrong?
Wrong in terms of their lack of support, and sometimes spreading FUD about plugin vehicles? I would say they haven't be "proven", beyond a shadow of a doubt, wrong. We need a bit more history before we can say definitively whether they were right or wrong.

We can definitely say the were wrong when they said "no one is knocking on our door asking for plug ins".

 

Know your audience.

I certainly didn't hear from any mainstream consumers.

All the knocking was from enthusiasts, the niche you and I are part of.

 

The number 100,000 is a snapshot. You have to look at the first derivative to get a better feel for where that is. First derivative is anemic however, but the technology development should spark some exponential growth in the next 5 yrs. Toyota needs to be ready for when that spark happens and not be just starting to work on its first version.

 

yes, we ned more history. i can look at it objectively, even though i'm a plug in advocate. who knows what technologies will develop in the next 20 years?

 

I just hope Toyota will announce something soon about the next Plugin - whatever it is going to be called. They took the C-HR from concept to production with minimal changes. That means there is still hope we might see the NS4 again, this time in production form.

 

Perhaps Toyota is dragging their feet on the PiP as a way to undermine plug in vehicles to bolster their risky investment into hydrogen? They probably provided the plug in to satisfy the minority of people that demand it, while throwing a hydrogen hail Mary.

 

Waiting until fall, to let other automakers join in first is how Toyota has done business in the past.

Remember Ford's rollout of the hybrid Escape?

 

Don't get your hopes too high. It will probably be this one.

 

What do you mean to let others go first? They aren't going to change the design in the next 6 months based upon what their competitors are going to do. I'm sure they've made their engineering decisions by now and are transferring to manufacturing, so I'm not sure what advantage you are implying they will have by holding off on any announcements. ( I don't remember Ford's roll-out, so maybe that is what I'm missing).

 

You are probably right

For me personally it is a decision between the C-HR and next Toyota Plugin. If the plugin happens to look like the image Navigare showed with Gen 4 powertrain and with extended EV range, I might give it a miss however good it turns out to be.

On the other hand, if the next Plugin is going to be 'Primed' from NS4 (exterior design, a new 2.0L ICE etc.) then that will win. Note that Toyota/Lexus have very recently trademarked UX250h which is expected to be the Lexus variant of C-HR but more importantly, the number designation hints that they might have a new ICE in the works smaller than their current 2.5L but higher capacity than the Prius 1.8L. Anyway just mostly speculation.

 

Yeah don't know what happened there. But how come the pip is more efficient than the regular? By like 2-3 MpG consistently.

Toyota is in an interesting place now. Rav4 hybrid looks good from rav4 ev, highlander hybrid... I wonder if there are any updates.

Volt 2 is more of an ev. Outlander plugin to compete with rav but a plugin. Pacifica hybrid plugin to become the first minivan plugin and hybrid with over 500 miles drivable. Probably 30 to 40 mpg with 25 ev actual range. Ioniq the first platform to push 3 different ways to drive a car at once.

Nissan leaf soon to hit 2.0 and it was already popular. Kia will have a I think all wheel drive hybrid aimed at Subaru.

What is Toyota aiming for? They have the most efficient hybrid on the market and maybe they are cocky about it? They were pretty cocky about Mirai... Everyone is aiming high but it seems Toyota only aims high in japan.

 

Toyota has always focused on "high" with respect to sales volume. So, they'll go with what will deliver business-sustaining profit.

Of those other vehicles from other automakers, which do you think will do the same?

 

What an odd statement?
Toyota certainly does not "always" focus on high sales volume.
Sure, for the bulk of their lineup, but there are numerous models that are simply low quantity.

With the Prius, it took 6 years in the U.S. before sales passed 100,000 (they actually went straight from under 100k to over 200k which was great).

Toyota certainly isn't focused on a high number of sales for the Mirai for the next decade.
The Prius V is languishing, do you expect them to axe it, or keep working on it?

I don't see how you can focus solely on quantity today when that obviously isn't what Toyota did with the Prius, or does today.

 

For Prius that has always been the case.

In fact, that is why both gen-1 models were limited availability.