Same here. I thought the slightly easier to degrade polythene for the bag was a nice touch, even if a bit of Googling tells me it doesn't actually appear to biodegrade too well. I might give our local dealer a call tomorrow to see if they know anything more, though considering how unenthused at the prospect of me giving them money for a new Prius they seemed the last time I talked to them, I'm not expecting much.
The dealer I spoke to today said they'd have a number of them in next month for test drives and the like, though seeing as he was also the guy who told me in late December that the new model wasn't really going to be any different, I'm taking that with somewhat of a large grain of salt.
I think that inside Europe local distributors make the decision on packages available in each country. Toyota Europe just makes everything EU Compliant in a legalese type of things. Locals choose the details and the names of packages plus of course pricing policy. Here in Slovenia New Prius is expected around September. At least so they say.
Toyota have started to advertise the new Prius on the Autocar website. This Ad, the promo mailed to people and the latest Toyota UK eNewsletter ALL confirm that the 3rd Gen Prius is launched in the UK on 1st August. I would hope that dealers have cars to drive on this date. From comments on the Toyota UK blog looks like the UK specifications should be announced in a couple of weeks time (i.e. mid June).
I spoke to my local Toyota dealer near where I work (as oppossed to where I live). He reports lots of interest in the 2010. He has 10 deposits already - mostly from current gen 2 owners who want to upgrade to the latest generation. They have 5 x 2009 models left, which they are preparing to sell at big discounts to sell them over the next few weeks. He said UK dealers should get a chance to see 2010 cars in July and again confirmed 1st August (which is a Saturday) as launch date. Simon on the Toyota blog confirmed today that owners will get their first 2010's delivered on the 1st August, so presumably if you want one you should be putting a deposit down now. I would imagine that UK car magazines will get their test drives in late June / early July for publication at the end of July.
That makes sense but I have two concerns: 1. My dealer isn't taking a deposit 2. I'd be a little uncomfortable putting down a deposit without driving the car first. (Especially since this is my first Prius) Did you get any idea of if there would be demo units with dealers before August 1st or if we'd need to test drive then book? If it's the latter my Prius order may not arrive for a loooong time.