A Bold Prediction

Maybe - but I can't see it. We know about the new "v", we've seen a PRIUS with different headlights (the purple one).

I'm wondering if something like the KONA/NIRO size - or based on the Lexus small Crossover will be the most likely format for a PRIUS replacement. Still selling well in Japan though - but down significantly (first ½ year) - Japan sales figures:

 

Well, Toyota has already renamed the entire lineup of Prii. There are no longer numbered trims, but instead lettered trims like their other cars.

I'm just surprised nobody has tried to make it into a racing machine since it has such low drag.

 

Don't know if I agree with that, or that Toyota is right.

The millennial generation grew up with a world of rechargeable, battery operated devices. They grew up with recycle bins, and a different consciousness about waste.

It was harder for me to come to understand Hybrids and Electrics. I grew up in a time when EVERYTHING went into the trash. And most vehicles were carburetor engines with 6-8 cylinders, they were metal giants.

My sample size is incredibly personal and small, I admit. But my 11 year old nephew is far more open and excited about Electric vehicles, and Hybrids, even more open to the idea of NOT owning a vehicle at all, or using one far less.

When I traded my Prius in, and got a Honda Fit, he was actually very angry at me. I got balled out by an 11 year old.

But actually, I sense a higher awareness of alternative possibility from the younger generation.
There's less pop the hood, gear heads, and more "What's the Technology?"

 

When I was quite young, in my town the "trash" truck backed up at spot on the river bank, let it rip, down a plywood flume and into the water.

Oh and our gas station: there was a small rock bank out back, that's where they poured the drained oil and tossed used oil filters.

 

Where my grandparents lived everyone burned their trash. My grandparents had a barrel outside where all of the trash went, when it was about half full they would burn it. It was mostly just paper and cardboard, plastic was much less common back then, at least in rural areas.

 

The car you're thinking of is the Avalon hybrid. The Prius is at the end of the day a compact car.

 

I think this has mostly to do with upfront cost -- for many the Prius will never give the payback ..... when young -- cost becomes most important. I also think that early on the Prius was a platform for everything hybrid ..as technology improved to allow for a more "normal" vehicle the true hybrid aspect of the vehicle went down. What is a Prius today ? Is it a car pushing limits?

We also have Lexus CT's -- no longer made. What are they ? While it is --- a unique vehicle not directly in the Toyota line ... it's an odd vehicle. We bought (leased) them because Lexus sold them to me at about what I was going to pay for the better level Prius. While they don't get the MPG of the Prius we get very high 40's .. and they are a nicer driving vehicle with almost as much utility as the Prius. But we could not only have CT's -- we need the utility of the Prius.

Lexus is coming out with a new small hybrid crossover that they are trying to sell to those now in the CT -- available in December. I will see .. we have extended the leases on the CT's and waiting for the crossover to come out.

 

New Baby Lexus Crossover will be a little gas guzzler, much much more than a CT ever was.
But it is in a extremely hot car segment, especially in Europe, so they need at least try to capture a little part of it while the fun still lasts.

This new popular car segment might crash considerably with next global recession when oil prices usually peak while personal incomes dwindle at the same time.

Economical car segments on other hand will stay forever. As they are long term viable for the customers. And that is the primary market for young people. They want affordable cars loaded with support for modern entertainment systems - support for both Android Auto and Apple Car Play is key. And Toyota/Lexus are extremely bad here.

 

I'm not sure how credible it is, but I've read that CUV's have lower safety standards, emission and mpg targets? Accordingly they sell cheaper; the manufacturers and consumers enable each other?

 

Ah yes - that good old days. Back when you'd change your oil, dig a hole on the side yard, and pour it in. Tranny fluid was great for killing the weeds underneath the chain link fence. Poor that radiator fluid right down the storm drain. Trash incinerator in the backyard. Southern California 1960s and 70s .... massive Refinery flaring nearly every night.
.

 

I love the idea of a performance hybrid from Toyota, but I think it would be a mistake to label it as a Prius. There's just too much baggage with that brand name, and none of it is positive for a performance car customer.

I really think they would do better just selling it as a Toyota and eventually explaining in fine print somewhere that they've applied all the lessons learned on 20 years of prius production.

They'll still need to make it appeal to older buyers. Millenials only sort of care what kind of car their rideshare driver owns. Make no mistake, they've got freedom from car ownership as a vaguely shared goal.