New Toyota Prius Becomes World’s Most Stylish Taxi

Well, this is a surprise indeed. Toyota so often preferring the pain-by-numbers, bland and easy-to-manufacture cars has decided to boldly go in a daring new styling direction for the Prius. And about time too. My instant reaction is to “take my money now”, and I have yet to even look at the finer details. So what is the new generation Toyota Prius about? The styling, no need for “designer speak” it’s an instant win. The new LED light clusters at the front and the full-width LED light bar at the rear? That’s is like a senior Toyota business executive turning up to work sporting a flame-red and white tipped Mohawk hairstyle.

The fifth-generation Prius is longer and has a lower center of gravity says Toyota. OK… having driven the Prius, it was never a sports car even factoring in the now standard 19-inch alloy wheels seen here on the new model. The all-new Prius sits on Toyota’s modular TNGA Platform which was actually introduced when the fourth generation was launched. The TNGA platform is used for a wide variety of Toyota and Lexus models.

Toyota has improved the platform’s rigidity, but car manufacturers often use the lexicons of “improved stiffness” and “better stability” for every new generation of cars. And when the sixth generation Prius launches many years from now, guess what? The platform it resides on will be yet more stiffer and yet more stable. It’s all part of the reassurance marketing strategy. Anyway.

The all-new Prius will be offered as Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid models. The standard hybrids will be powered by two engines, a 1.8 litre 4-cylinder and 2.0-liter 4-cylinder. Power ranges from 136bhp and 191bhp respectively. The Plugin Hybrid (PHEV) features a 2.0-litre engine combined with a 147bhp engine and 158bhp electric motor to produce a total system output of 221bhp.

The Prius PHEV’s electric range is boosted by a 13.6kWh battery which allows for crica 58 miles of pure electric drive. However, EV range is always determined by weather, topography and personal driving style. The new Prius is also equipped with a solar charging system, Toyota says it can generate around 776 miles worth of power per year.

The new Prius will be packed full of passive and active safety features and you can be sure it will be stuffed full of the latest digital technology. It has a brand-new 12.3-inch infotainment system and a 7.0-inch digital driver display. But did the UX designers wipe clean the RAV4 Toyota-ness from the design on which it is based? Being British, we will never know.

That’s because the all-new Prius will not be sold in the UK due to a lack of demand. Toyota will sell the Prius throughout Europe, it’s a great shame it won’t be sold in the UK because finally, they (Toyota) made the Prius interesting.