Some insider notes on the 2017 Prius Prime

If you were the marketing person, who would you trust more? Carefully selected focus groups of potential car buyers, or Prius fanatics from PriusChat?

We are great source of good advice for them, but there's a certain bias. I mean, you were perhaps the first retail owner of a Plug-in Prius in America, weren't you? And we tracked the container ships across the ocean, awaiting their arrival. We aren't average car buyers.

 

agreed. but carefully selected is a dangerous term.

 

I've run focus groups before, and I've been in one. They are very expensive, and it's very easy to misinterpret the results. They only really work if you haven't already invested into a concept, because otherwise, you're going to be biased and you'll want the results to confirm your wishes.

 

i went to one on spaghetti sauce once. pre go i think. what a waste of time, turned them down ever since. maybe that's why toyota hasn't called...

 

Somewhere I read that someone from Toyota said that in the near future batteries with double density will be available, and then a variant of the Prime will be offered with the battery-reserved space filled with a battery with double capacity, so double range again. Can you* confirm this?

* you = somebody from our Toyota team

 

that would be fabulous, but i'd prefer 22 miles under the deck, and my seat back.

 

With double density you can also make the battery half as flat with the same 8.8 kWh capacity, and then the floor can go down again. Also weight will be substantially decreased then, so maybe that gives place for such an extra "big American"?

 

That's entirely possible mid-cycle.

People tend to forget that upgrades can come more frequently than just generation rollouts.

Things like the battery-pack can be updated along the way.

 

Did Toyota say at the auto show that the way the Prius Prime raised cargo deck appeared was a sure thing for the final production run?

Would hope they would put a little more work into the final production product with making the whole cargo area flat, sturdy, with nicely tapered areas where needed. As noted by others, the current images make the finish look like a second thought aftermarket solution.

 

I like the battery range and the appearance. I'm thinking of getting a new car in two or three years. I think I'll wait until more driver automation is available. Also, after enTune, I don't trust Toyota's engineers to provide good quality internet functions.

 

actually in AB article I believe they said they read PC a lot (Prius head engineer) so possible if everyone complains a lot .


Then on the other hand, my cousin bought trick S class for his main vehicle, it was $120k and it came with 4 seats. I know since my mother in law was laughing about him buying $120k car with 4 seats, he must be stupid!

 

agreed. but my brother has a 500sl, and his wife a lexus rc something or other, and between the two of them, they have 4 seats.

 

Wait. Did I see somewhere that it's possible through density of the batteries will double in a couple years? Ie a refresh to save space and some weight... I forget who said that. But that would be cool.

 

you did, but there are a lot of battery promises out there. they don't advance like computer chips. look at how little progress has been made since p1 came out 4 years ago. they should have been able to double range with 50% more battery by next fall.

 

Yes exactly, this is it. (but in my memory there was also something about doubling the density; but that may be wishful remembering)

What is the status of this statement? Is it a realistic kind of prediction for a short term?

 

Was there a mid-cycle for the gen. 1 Plug-in Prius ?

 

The Gen 1 Plug-in Prius was a mid-cycle update of the Gen 3 Prius.

Gen 3 started shipping in 2009 for the 2010 model year. Plug-in was a refresh that came out in April, 2012. (Maybe Bisco got his in late March?)

So a mid-cycle refresh might come out in late 2018 or 2019-ish?

 

The Classic Prius we got in 2000 was actually a mid-cycle upgrade. The battery-pack got a major redesign.

 

nice find tideland! what/who is toyoshima? if toyota chose to upgrade the battery mid cycle, that would be unprecedented, and very volt like.