newly designed Prius

I checked several dealerships and Toyota.com before I found an answer. It will be at least 2010 before the new body. They said possibly 2011.

 

I asked pretty closely about this when I bought in Dec., cause I was willing to wait if the next gen was going to be out this year. I was assured it would be 2010. Maybe he just wanted the sale, but I was pretty explicit that I would happily come back to him and pay more if he gave me the correct info.....

 

Do you actually believe anything that a dealership tells you - especially the sales dept?

When inquiring about purchasing a used Prius, several dealers have told me that they just "know" that the new Prius won't be out in 2009. When I ask for any proof, nothing. My favorite reply was the assertion that since Toyota comes out with a new model every five years, the new Prius isn't due until 2010 because the current model was introduced in 2004. Of course - you guessed it - the used Prius that I was asking about was a 2004 It must me some kind of new math that I'm not familar with where 2004 + 5 = 2010?

 

Is the 2009 FOR SURE going to be the third generation hybrid system or just a new body design?

I'm getting ready to buy an 2008 this month. I decided I just can't wait any longer (I get 18 MPG avg.) and I hope it's not a decision I regret when the 09 comes out.

I'm buying new and I wonder how much I would lose on a trade in on a 2008 for a 2009.

 

me too! i am looking to buy mon-tues.

last week I wondered if some third party made a way to charge the batteries at home- now it might be the next years model ?

 

I am hearing that we are at least 12-15months out from the next gen Prius. I too have been told it will have the 1.8l engine that the Corolla is using and there will be NO change in batts.

So do I buy now or wait another year+? Id like to wait it out, but as fuel goes up and I only get in the teens for mpg, I will most likely get on board SOON! How much can be lost on the sale of a 1-2yr old Prius?

 

2 days until press day at the NY Auto Show. Any bets on whether Toyota will announce (the Gen III Prius)?

 

I'm unable to find any Toyota press releases from the NY show today. Did I miss them somehow? :spy:

 

The designs 2009 cars are certainly done by now, and likely are already in production, or at least pre-production . If factories were re-tooled for a major re-design, that can't be done in secret. There is no way Toyota (or any other car company) could keep secret a major re-design 6 months before it would be on a showroom floor. So unless a 2009 model year prius actually would hit the showroom in 2009 (as opposed to mid to late 2008), there is simply no way it could be a major re-design...

 

Of well, no announcement at the NY Auto show. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't NY the last major auto show before the fall. So it certainly looks like the Gen III Prius will be a 2010.

Surprisingly, still no real competition for the Prius from Detroit considering that they've had at least a decade to catch up (or lead).

 

This should be no surprise, really. Seems they are still pushing huge SUV's and trucks on people or very inefficient muscle cars but not much else

 

I went to my local dealership and drove an '08 Prius over the w/e. Why is there always only one available? Did they stop making them for the model change? No demand per Bob Lutz at GM?

Anyway, they had the '09 Corolla on the lot - it's actually a nice car. I think they had the '09 Camry Hybrid also so I don't know why the '09 Prius is not there.

The seats in the '08 Prius hurt my back. The Camry and Corolla seats are comfortable. I'm hoping the '09 Prius will be released this year and it will have better seats and a telescoping wheel. While you're at it, go ahead and widen the track, shorten the length, extend the wheel base, put a 1.8L in it, give it a plug-in option, extend the MPG to 100 city/ 80 highway, increase production by 50%, and reduce cost by 20% like all the crazy articles that I've been reading say is going to happen. And please deliver three of them to my dealership instead of just the one.

 

To quote a very famous man: "If they would agree, I would agree."

 

From contacts I have within Toyota here, information is that the new Prius will be released worldwide in the second half of 2009.

 

my father knows someone pretty high up at toyota, and that person confirmed the 2009 prius will have the new body style. i don't know if this is common knowledge around here, but its what i have been told today anyway. i'm waiting on this guys e-mail back as to when we can expect it to hit the floors. hopefully he knows, and is willing say.

i suppose i will be waiting for the 09' now. i REALLLLLLY hope it drops in 08' as opposed to 09'.

frustrating time to want a prius as i really want to get out of my current car now!

 

that concept for the 09 is slick lookin. But I think I will wait till 2010 to trade up

 

From the sales front lines.

I've been selling them since they first arrived in 2000/2001. Currently they are selling as well as ever ( see March sales reports ). Just trying to find enough to sell it the big problem. It seems that every 3rd person coming in wants to drive one or is at the buying point. It was our #2 selling vehicle after the Camry this past month.

Toyota is very very slick in all its announcements. When it says 2009 they don't specify if they mean MY 2009, due here this Oct, or CY 2009, due a year later.

What is certain is that Toyota has already announced that the CEO Mr Watanabe will make a major announcement about Toyota's and Lexus' hybrids at next year's NAIAS in Detroit...in January. Typically this means that the actual models follow 6-8 months later. What this announcement is ... all speculation ( PHEV?, new Prius body? Lithium Ion technology? Lexus model? Tundra hybrid? extention of hybrid technology throughout the lineup? ).

Toyota just made an announcement that it was going to jump production by 60% to over 400K units 'next year'. Does 'next year' mean next MY. next CY or next fiscal year ( Toyota's )?

I'd guess that the current body stays through CY 2009. At that time a new body with NiMH technology is debuted but the PHEV technology remains 2-3 years away. Then in 2011 CY the new body gets the Li-ion technology. But it's all supposition at this point. It's like trying to read tea leaves.

 

You said it!
What seemed futuristic when our cars were new now seems old and staid.

 

That's what I'm thinking as well based on your same data. Too bad, as I was hoping for an all-new Prius this fall! Fall 2009 will have to do...

 

As others have said - you are taking the word of a salesperson for fact? When I visit my local Toyota dealer with my Rav4EV, I typically get at least one sales guy asking me if I still get good gas mileage in my pure battery EV.