Featured 2023 Prius spy shot

Those are some seriously low-profile tires.

 

i like it, hope he is right

 

You mean ridiculously low-profile tires...

 

hey! Except for the gargantuan rims, they kinda made it look kind a ½ dozen yr old Chevy Volt! with some of the wacked out styles the Prius has come out w/ this is by far the best looking one yet. with a 15kWh traction pack? I'd be all over that
.

 

To be fair, that general shape happens to be the best blend of aerodynamics and functionality.

 

Hasn't that always been the case with the Prius?
The current one just tacked on some more extreme accents to it.

The wheels can be part of the camo.

 

5.5 cm lower roof. That's a shame. The main reason I chose the Gen4 was the ease to get in and out of the driver's door without having to crane my neck each time I wanted to get in or out of the damned car. If I'm going to have to go back to a car that makes me contort to get into it again, I'll buy a new Ford Mustang the next time - or a hybrid pickup truck to avoid that scenario altogether.
I tried the Rav4, the Corolla and the largest Toyota car in the showroom in 2019, and had to bend my neck a lot more for all of them (seats as low as they would go) compared to the Prius or the Tacoma.

 

That make the car seem to sit higher off of the ground. Let's be real here - folks won't get those wheels as an option, and they won't get that orange paint job. This seems like every other prototype car debut by manufacturers. I'll wait to see just how boring the actual cars and colors are the year it comes out.

 

“And again, unless this is a standard PHEV with a great EV range, Toyota shouldn't bother...”

^ Quote from the last link, kinda presumptive.

 

Very interesting....can't wait to get a peak at the interior...I suspect major improvements since they, still, want to keep the Prius as the leader in their Hybrid lines and the Corolla Hybrid is pushing the envelope on them! An EV range of 100 miles in the Prime is what folks are expecting...that would be amazing!

 

Virtually every car model Toyota sells has a hybrid option. When the new Tacoma arrives, only the sports cars will have no hybrid option in the US. The hybrids we currently don't get has more to do with sales, and not cannibalizing Prius sales is a consideration for some.

What niche does the non-plug Prius fill in the Toyota line up? Originally, it was the ambassador to their new hybrid technology, and then for Lexus level features to the Toyota brand. Other models have already gotten the bipolar NiMH batteries. Even the latest hybrid system going into this Prius will debut earlier in another model. Is being the absolute most efficient car at the dealer enough to slow the sales losses? How long before the Corolla, Camry, etc. hybrids close the gap?

The article quote was a bit presumptive, but being just a Venza to the Corolla is a bit of downgrade to what the Prius once was. The PHEV is more in line with that.

 

My guess is the supra will even be hybrid soon as bmw is putting a mild 48V hybrid on the I6 on other models.

I would agree unless it is a phev, the prius will probably die outside of japan. I don't think it needs great range, but given the price of lithium iron phosphate it would be a shame if it didn't have at least 12 kwh. Toyota sells plenty of other hybrids.

 

If and when plug-in batteries die, pretty much bricks it? Not that it seems to be happening.

I wonder what percent of prime owners almost never plug it in.

And again, no room for a spare?

ah well, lotsa life in our ‘10.

 

Is the new Aqua sold outside Japan? Haven't heard of the Prius c coming back here, and Europe always had the Yaris hybrid instead. I was actually surprised Toyota kept it going as a separate model instead of simply rebadging the Yaris. Could the non-plug Prius become a home town only model?

The hybrid battery dying will brick the car.

 

From the article: "I think that in 2023, the regular Prius needs to be a PHEV with well over 50 miles of EV range to be relevant again. Something even better with over 70 miles would be great and would allow many buyers to almost never use gas." Agreed. I feel the push for pure EVs is too much, too soon, with inadequate regard to how much lithium/cobalt, etc. mining must be done to meet the demands of the lofty EV sales targets of the next few years. A PHEV with much greater electric range seems to make a lot more sense for the near term, especially since China has about 3/4 of the processing capacity for these metals right now. We need to address that and it will take time to build up our capability to match theirs. And depending on China may go south if they seize Taiwan, a real possibility. I think we should take more incremental steps toward a pure EV future and I anticipate a new Prius PHEV with 50 to 60+ miles of electric range is a car I want to look at, particularly if it can undercut most pure EV prices. It seems likely the only pure EVs that will cost less will be the newly discounted Chevy Bolt twins and the standard Nissan Leaf if it's still around by then.

 

Apparently the Prius will retain its hatchback so it will be the only hybrid hatch car for the NA market and be a little upscale compared to the Corolla. This isn't true in Europe, of course, where Toyota has three other hatch hybrid cars. The 2023 Prius isn't going to get the bipolar NiMH, it'll be a new Lithium battery along with a newer design of the 1.8L. But bestcarweb.jp does think the Prius and Prius Prime will eventually become one and the same.
translation from a September 16th article:
"Although it inherits the basic 5-door hatchback layout, it has a wide and low coupe shell and a higher quality sports and stylish shell.

　The hybrid power unit is an improved 1.8L lithium-ion battery, and the PHEV, which will be set at the same time, is a newly developed 2L, and development is underway to extend the cruising range to 100km."

"　Until now, the Prius Hybrid and Prius PHEV have been developed separately as separate models. The next model is under development in the same project. This is because PHEVs will become the mainstay in the future, and there is a long-term plan to consolidate them here."

They might consolidate faster in Europe to the single Prius PHEV because it will be the only small plug-in car. They need something to slot in under the Rav4 Plug-in Hybrid.