Toyota has upped its fuel-efficiency projection for its Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV), according to Bloomberg, which reports the automaker expects to top the Volt in its U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy rating.
Toyota’s U.S. Group Vice President Bob Carter, said the Plug-In Prius should manage 50 mpg in hybrid mode for combined city/ highway mileage, and earn 95 MPGe assuming its 4.4-kwh lithium-ion battery is recharged frequently.
“It’s still an estimate, but we are confident it’s going to be 95,” Carter said Tuesday. The EPA rating will be known “in a couple weeks,” he said.
When I called Toyota’s new Aqua / Prius C affordable compact hybrid first a “gamechanger,” then an “engineering feat,” this attracted the attention of self-styled jargon vigilantes. They demanded equal platitudes to be bestowed on domestic models. In the meantime, the Japanese game changer threatens to change Toyota’s best laid plans: It sells ten times better than expected.
Last week at the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota showed the world the rest of its Prius-transcending NS4 plug-in hybrid concept.
Leading up to this unveiling, Toyota had milked its PR value by showing teaser photos while offering details just as scant as close-ups shots of a headlight or other design aspect.
So here it is – a new hybrid that Toyota says it will be positioned separate from the Prius family.
As anticipated, Toyota debuted the Prius c subcompact at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week to “complete the Prius family” when it becomes available in March.
Pricing will start at “under $19,000,” and it offers an EPA estimated mileage rating of 53 mpg in the city – which Toyota says is the “highest rated city fuel economy of any vehicle without a plug.” Highway mileage is 46 mpg, and the combined rating is 50 mpg,
Toyota has been playing the media game well, first by distributing a teaser photo last month of the headlight from its mysterious NS4 plug-in hybrid concept, and now by making sure every outlet gets a link to its teaser video.
So for your uninformed viewing pleasure, we present all that the maker of the Prius family is willing to divulge until next week’s beginning of the Detroit Auto Show where the veil will finally be thrown aside.
Whether the NS4 will slot in as the athlete in the Prius family, or sport some other form of next-gen Toyo technology will be one of the questions inquiring minds want to know.
Announced yesterday by Toyota Motor Corporation, the home-market version of the Prius C – called the “Aqua” – was launched as a frugal and evolved member of the growing Prius line.
Citing “17 years of Toyota expertise and technology in the development of mass-produced hybrid vehicles,” Toyota said its 1.5-liter Toyota Hybrid System II (THS II) with reduction gear powertrain delivers about 100 horsepower and “world-leading” efficiency.
On the extremely optimistic Japanese JC08 test cycle, the Aqua gave 35.4 km/L (83.3 mpg U.S., 2.8 l/100km) and 40.0 km/l (94 mpg U.S., 2.5 l/100km) under the MLIT 10-15 test cycle.
Toyota has announced updates to its best-selling Prius line for next year, including a moderate uptick in price.
This week Toyota announced incremental price increases for the Prius Liftback ranging from 2 percent to 4.3 percent.
Formerly known as the “regular Prius,” the car which is now the progenitor of a growing sub brand for the Japanese automaker will start at $24,000 for the Prius Two and range to $29,805 for the Prius Five.
Today, Toyota started Chinese production of its third gen Prius hybrid. The car is being assembled at Toyota’s joint venture plant with FAW in frigid Changchun in China’s northern Jilin Province. Sales of the vehicle will begin in early 2012.
Toyota's big talk about hybrids is no greenwash. According to a report in Automotive News, the carmaker plans to as much as double the number of hybrids it sells in North America by 2015, to 400,000 vehicles per year.
