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I missed that thread. Regardless, document the "ecological bike carrier" option and documented it to USA standards. Just use the same hardware as the Europeans use. It is the only port option that makes sense to me.

Toyota has paid the engineering price for everything I want. Offer it in 2017 and there will be a Gen-3 on the used market. If not, Toyota can continue to pound sand against 'cheap gas.' . . . Toyota' problem since I can wait.

Bob Wilson

 

prius was always a 'bridge' to somewhere. if cali is happy with the mix of cars on their roads, i guess they've crossed the bridge.
toyota will figure it out, if they are unhappy with sales.
it's not an embarrassment to no longer hold the lead you once did, as long as you're still holding the lead.

 

The hardware isn't any different between here and there for the car. The difference is in the available trailers. No big deal for those wanting it for a utility trailer. Just load it up with the weight centered farther back over the trailer axle so the tongue weight is in the European spec range. Stay off freeways and stay below 60mph, and there won't be any problems.

But if Toyota puts an official tow rating on the car, people will use it to tow boats, water skis, and mini campers. The trailers for these in the US have the weight centered farther forward for better towing stability at higher speeds. It also doubles the tongue weight. In Europe, a Prius might have 115lbs put on its tail by a trailer. In the US, that same trailer will put 240lbs there. Toyota could legitimately worried about what stresses at higher speeds that extra weight could cause. Or they simply are concerned about the fall out if some idiot decides to tow the max weight, fill it up to exceed the car's payload, and something goes wrong. The Prius has a payload rating between 835lbs and 905lbs. Subtract the 200+lbs for the tongue weight, and it will be quite easy to load the car up past what Toyota calls the safe limit.

If the Prius were to get a tow rating for the US, we will be lucky if it is 500lbs. More likely we won't see that for the same reason nearly no other car maker puts a tow rating on their cars.

 

1. is available on all trims on the Prius here in EU, and as a relatively cheap option even on the Yaris (recently noticed that as a friend of mine is getting right now a Yaris Hybrid where it is optional for like 300€(!!!) ); Auris I think it is either standard or an option for the same amount of money as for the Yaris: I still don't see Prius storming the streets of Munich (it is a tough market here in any case, and Toyota sales are not helping at all)
2. I don't think anybody offers it here and I don't think anybody would know what it would be for and use it
3. lucky I am in EU but I would never tow anything because I need to dish out money for the options required to actually tow anything, and I could just use the money to rent a van to do the job; those who tow around camper/caravan (or whatever they are called in English ) don't buy a Prius simply because they have already a station wagon or a full blown caravan/motorhome.
4. that could be a sell here in DE because of the snow, too bad they are selling so few of them, that the option would not turn around heads and the Prius is not perceived as a "mountain" car here - a BMW X drive etc would. There are practically no 4WD Golf/Passat here too. This is also why the RAV Hybrid is pushed and sold a lot more.

What would really help here would be:

• a better and wider range of colors (including a more sparkly white)
• a better range of alloy wheels with more aggressive designs
• a better choice of interior materials
• probably the biggest problem --> much better and committed sales that follow their customers and show they want to sell (that would differentiate them from the other dealers of BMW/VW/etc which don't give a toss about their customers since the cars sell by themselves based on fashion, design, please the neighbour, patriotism, whatever else...; the only 2 dealers here in Munich with a total of 5 locations are a disgrace in my experience - the one where I bought mine never called me a single time to update me on anything since March when I placed the order - the service team seems ok though and offer a nice "drive to work" free service)
• a cooler and more catchy/elegant advertising (you should see what BMW/Mercedes/Audi/VW do here... )
• more real numbers to show just how much better hybrid helps in fuel savings