The trim level chosen for these is the Two, which is the base model for consumers but the second-up trim level available to fleets.

These replacements will happen progressively over the next three to four years.

The company declared it expects that replacing its existing sedans with these hybrids will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent over the company’s current sedan fleet.

“Schindler’s commitment to environmental stewardship is evident in all that we do, including: the ‘greening’ of our North American headquarters building, our sustainable ISO-certified manufacturing facilities, the environmentally friendly vehicles we use, and the energy-efficient technology we provide,” said Jakob Zueger, CEO, Schindler Americas. “We are dedicated to continual improvement to limit environmental impact.”

The company’s 2,000-plus non-sedan fleet was replaced in 2010 with the Chevy HHR, which has already saved an average of 2,358 gallons of gasoline per year, resulting in a reduction in fleet greenhouse emissions by 34 percent.

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Yesterday, Shigeki Terashi, head of Toyota Motor North America Inc. came as close as possible to announcing that Toyota plans to produce the Prius in North America. He didn’t actually say it, and you needed to be Japanese to hear it.

After the Nikkei [sub] asked Terashi whether he would move Prius production to N.A., he answered that Toyota intends to “make cars where they are popular.” The Nikkei takes this to mean that the “comment suggests the firm is looking to gain a cost edge over rivals.”

The case for American Prius production has long been strong. Toyota sold 236,659 Prii among the various “family” members in the U.S. in 2012 alone, all of them imported from high-yen Japan. This is a major drag on the car’s profitability not to mention an environmental drag from the transport ships used to get them here.

Beyond this, long import routes are a hindrance, offshore production also tends to impact the granularity of options and trims.

Terashi’s statement however leaves room for speculation until a clear word is given. His veiled comment could suggest only U.S. assembly of Prii, with the powertrain coming from Japan, however, “the North American unit will also consider locally manufacturing key components for hybrids, such as batteries and motors,” Terashi told The Nikkei.

Some have taken this as an all but an unequivocal yet unofficial confirmation of domestic Prius production, so we shall see.

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The influential Consumer Reports did create waves when it panned the smallest and least expensive of the Prii as so sub-par and cheapened compared to a regular Prius Liftback, that it recommended buying a clean used Liftback instead of a new c.

This judgment, like every other it seems these days, was met with counterpoints, and to be sure the U.S. market voted its pocketbook in favor of the c. Since its launch in March 2012, the Prius c has been essentially the third best-selling of all hybrids. In 2012, it sold 35,733 in only three-quarters of a selling year. With a full 12 months of sales, the only other cars to top it were other Toyota hybrids – the v, the Camry and Liftback

Powertrain

The Prius c is motivated by a 1.5-liter four cylinder Atkinson cycle engine based on an updated version from the previous generation regular Prius. Compared to the new 1.8-liter in the Liftback, it gives up 25 horsepower totaling 73, with 82 pound-feet of torque.

This meager energy is of course augmented by a seamlessly integrated electric motor and fed through a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Output for the total Hybrid Synergy Drive system is 99 horsepower for a vehicle weighing 500 pounds less.

Dimensions

The little c – with “c” standing for “city” – is essentially based on Toyota’s Yaris platform. The car is around four inches longer than the Yaris and dimensionally also quite similar to the original Prius.
Both have a 100.4-inch wheelbase, the same 66.7-inch width and employ a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine. However, the Prius c is 12 inches shorter than the original Prius, and 265 pounds lighter.
Economy

While the c looks like an original Prius revisited in many respects, a big difference is fuel economy: The Prius c is EPA rated at 53 mpg city/46 highway and 50 combined compared to the first model’s 42/41/41 rating.

Interior

As for some of the issues Consumer Reports found issues with, the interior is indeed laden with inexpensive plastic, and does lag behind others in the subcompact class like the Ford Focus and Hyundai Accent.

The dash and layout are designed to appeal to that most elusive of consumer species: the so-called Millennial generation.

One of Toyota’s ad campaigns this year was a series called the Game of Life based on a game by Hasbro to appeal to the connected generation’s assumed general mindset.

Driving

On the road, the Prius c is within what one would expect of a Toyota city car. Of course it can be driven coast to coast if desired, and the car verges on being fun to drive, but it’s best suited as a local runner.

Its excellent fuel mileage returned is within range of the EPA estimate assuming one drives at a legal pace, avoiding jackrabbit starts, and keeps a steady hand.

The Prius c is not especially powerful however, and this is one area where those who feel they need more than the minimum daily allowance of horsepower supplementation will want to search for other alternatives.

Of course, if they do, they will be hard pressed to find a less expensive car offering such efficiency. So, it is a trade-off, and one which many feel is more than worth it.

Pricing

The Prius c comes in several trim levels from One through Four.

Toyota announced the 2013 Prius c will be be offered with interior upgrades that now include a standard SofTex®-trimmed steering wheel on the Prius c Four, and a black SofTex dash panel on Prius c Two and Three models, matching the dash of the top-line Prius c Four.

Suggested retail prices will range from $19,080 for the Prius c One to $23,360 for the Prius c Four, an increase of $130 or 0.6 percent.

For more information, you can read our full 2012 review on what is essentially the same car.

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It was launched as an all-new model in fall 2011, and has quickly grown in popularity ascending the hybrid sales chart to consistently rank in the top four spots, and in 2012, Toyota sold 40,669 units placing it third behind the Toyota Camry Hybrid and Prius Liftback – although the smaller Prius c arguably deserves this title given sales started in March were just 4,936 units behind despite only selling for three-quarters of the year.

In short, the selling point is this is a car that gets outstanding mileage and good reliability for the space it provides.

Specifically, the Prius v provides nearly 60 percent more interior room, edging its carrying capacity into small minivan territory while giving up only 8 mpg to the Prius Liftback from which it was derived.

The v is bigger, wider and taller and its EPA average is 44 mpg in the city and 40 on the highway and 42 combined. By contrast, the Liftback gives 51/48.

The v also costs a couple thousand more than the Liftback, and a small price increase of between $100-$155 for 2013 was chronicled for it by Toyota over its 2012 price of $26,550 and up.

About the only negative press we’ve seen on the car was marginal crash test results by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety in its small overlap frontal crash testing. In response to this news late last year, Toyota said it will improve small overlap test results and that a proper fix will require more than just one solution.

Toyota also pointed out that the Prius v has previously been awarded an IIHS Top Safety Pick – which accounts for many criteria except small overlap.

At this writing we do not know if any of these safety engineering changes have yet been made, but it appears they have not.

Beyond that, we said the car will see minor styling updates, and here they are: The 2013 Prius v will be available in a new Seaglass Pearl exterior color. In addition, the Prius v Five will offer a SofTex-trimmed steering wheel.

Motivating the Prius v is Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive utilizing a 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle, four-cylinder engine producing 98 horsepower at 5,200 rpm. Combined with its electric motor, the system generates a combined 134 net horsepower and Toyota does not publish combined torque output.

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is employed and to help compensate for an extra 250 pounds over the Prius Liftback – which was never excessively fast to begin with – the v model employs lower ratios to get started.

Toyota says that the 0-to-60-mph time is 10.4 seconds, versus an estimated 9.8 seconds for the Prius Liftback, and this is unladen. Pack it full of people and some gear, and expect an even more leisurely pace.

But the car has what it takes to get the job of everyday traveling accomplished, handles sufficiently well, brakes sufficiently well, and as a reasonably competent all-around vehicle returning excellent mileage, lets you carry lots of stuff.

Behind the rear seat is 34.3 cubic feet of cargo space, which increases to 40.2 cubic feet when the back seats are moved forward. Fold the 60/40 split rear seats flat, and that number balloons to 67.3 cubic feet. That’s more room than the Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Escape, Honda Element or Nissan Rogue crossovers offer.

The Prius v also has a smart key system with push-button start; an electronic shift lever; hill assist control, a back-up camera, and seven airbags – all as standard equipment. Available options include energy-efficient LED headlamps; dynamic radar cruise control with a pre-collision system; and a parking guidance system.

Buyers can also be treated to Toyota’s smart-phone utilizing Entune infotainment system. Connecting the smart phone via Bluetooth or a USB cable allows Entune’s features to be operated using the vehicle’s controls or, for some services, by voice recognition. Mobile apps for Entune include Bing, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable, and Pandora. Entune data services include a fuel price guide, sports scores, stocks, traffic and weather.

There are three trim levels offered: the Prius v Two, Prius v Three and Prius v Five. The Prius v Two has increased from $26,550 to $26,650 for 2013, and Prius v Three pricing has increased from $27,315 to $27,415. The highly equipped Prius v Five has increased from $30,140 to $30,295.

For a bit more info on essentially the same car, you can also check out our full 2012 model review.

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Sandwiched between those classic American pony cars? The Toyota Prius.

In the interest of full disclosure, editors at Autoweek.com, admit that the Prius doesn’t get their blood pumping. Yet, as auto enthusiasts covering the full spectrum of the four-wheeled-world, the site’s staffers can’t deny the staying power of Toyota’s market-leading hybrid car.

Without postulating why the Prius rated so high in a publication that values performance facets of cars as much as practicality and comfort, the editors simply let the search results chips fall.

“All assumptions aside, the numbers don’t lie,” wrote Sherrice Gilsbach of Autoweek.com.

Reading (electronic) tea leaves

What does the number two out of 12 position say about the Prius?

There’s no end to the number of ways we could extract meaning from AW’s search results, and what they say about the Web site’s readership, or those merely doing informational searches on the site. To say that the influences of creeping numbers at the pump and the ever-increasing acceptance of alternative-fuel vehicles also likely play roles in boosting the Prius’ profile aren’t stretches of probability.

If you’re the cynical type, weary of a something as simple as a tally of search results telling the greater story of the popularity of the Prius, you need look no further than sales data to see how it is that apparently so many people might hunt down info on the Prius nowadays.

Model-year 2013 marks a commendable 17 years of Prius production, with first sales starting in Japan in 1997. In April 2011 Toyota had sold its 1 millionth Prius in the U.S. since the car first went on sale here in 2000.

For a more current perspective, peeking at our November Dashboard sales totals for the hybrid market you can see that the Prius Liftback’s 8,925 sales is more than twice as many as the next best seller. And 2012 year-to-date Liftback sales of nearly 135,000 units is more than three times the next best selling hybrid in a market of more than 40 models.

First in line

In the U.S. the car has essentially reached cult status; it has transcended from a practical means of personal transportation to being an icon. The Prius has been synonymous with green car technology for most of the past decade and a half.

While not taking anything away from Toyota’s design and engineering prowess behind the Prius, a key factor in the car’s success is often lost in the boiling enthusiasm for the green car market: the Prius got here first.

Yes, we know Toyota didn’t pioneer the technology of hybrid powertrain vehicles; the premise of such a machine has existed for decades. But Toyota was the first mainline automaker in years to make the green car leap into an American auto market traditionally in love with displacement, eye-candy appeal, and a long-running ethos of bigger is better.

Not only did Toyota jump into a red-hot caldron spilling over with fuel-swilling Escalades and Expeditions, but it also stuck the landing, and hasn’t looked back since.

2012 Prius c.

Being first to market with a product can pay immense dividends. A savvy company can leverage a product’s first-to-market status as a tremendously strong marketing and branding tool. If the product is viable and its image managed, a company can leave a positive indelible mark on the market that may reap rewards for years to come.

If you’re a hybrid car enthusiast old enough to remember, think back to a time before you were so enthusiastic. Think also of those friends, family, and casual acquaintances that even now only have cursory knowledge of green cars. When the term “hybrid car” first crosses eardrums, what comes to mind? Probably an image of a Prius.

As a brand the Prius is so well managed that it allowed Toyota to grow the Prius line. Now consumers can pick from among three hybrids: the Prius Liftback, Prius c, Prius v, and a plug-in hybrid, called simply enough, the Prius Plug-in.

Toyota has capitalized on its reputation of building reliable, user-friendly vehicles, and parlayed that cache of credit with consumers – as well as the Prius’ ability to do what Toyota implied the car could do (use less fuel, lower emissions, and save customers money) – into an image for the Prius that goes beyond Toyota.

2012 Prius v Five.

“Prius is a Prius first and a Toyota second,” said Toyota’s Group Vice President of Global Sales, Bob Carter, when the Prius family of cars became a top-three seller earlier this year.

Not universally loved, but loved by a loyal following

The car was, and still is, often derided for being a treehugger’s car of choice. Yet, despite no major departures in the car’s core styling theme that gives diehard auto enthusiasts the willies, the Prius has moved beyond being an automobile.

It’s hard to argue against the notion that for a portion of Prius owners the car is as much a badge of honor, an affirmation of lifestyle, or a 3,000-pound representation of ideologies, as it is a way to get from A to B.

2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle.

In 2007 the <em>New York Times</em> cited a marketing survey that saw 57 percent of respondents say they purchased a Prius because it made a declaration about them as a person, while far fewer (36 percent) purchased the car for its fuel economy.

However, like people and their ideals the king of hybrids isn’t infallible. The Prius has seen its share of safety recalls and negative press.

In November of this year Toyota issued a recall for certain 2004 to 2009 model-year Prius vehicles in the U.S. to inspect and in some cases replace the steering intermediate extension shaft. A total of 670,000 Prius were subject to the recall. In 2010 a similar number of cars were recalled for a coolant pump glitch, and the Prius was also caught up in the floor mat public relations nightmare in 2009.

More recently the Prius c was dubbed by Consumer Reports as a car to avoid.

The consumer watchdog publication reported that the c model it evaluated provided fuel economy figures far below the car’s EPA-rated 53 mpg city rating; the magazine also opined the c had poor ride quality and a chintzy interior. And just last week the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated the Prius v “poor” for its performance in the Institute’s new small overlap frontal crash test.

By and large, however, the Prius family of cars is generally regarded as a safe, economical, and reliable choice of vehicles.

Quietly storming the gates of automobile conventionalism

While the alternative-fuel powertrain vehicle market is currently but a sliver of the larger automobile scene, it is trending upward. Yet it’s virtually impossible to surmise the future of the green car merely by how many people visiting <em>Autoweek.com’s</em> searched for the Prius over the period of one year.

One the other hand, with the Prius surpassing the Corvette, not to mention the many other fuel-efficient, economical cars like the Ford Focus and Kia Optima that faired well in the AW.com top 12 searched list, you have to wonder if practicality is storming the gates of power and passion that for so long have underpinned the often emotional act of purchasing a car.

Had Toyota not so effectively implemented its Prius program, chances are that another manufacturer would’ve stepped in and had cracking success with some form of alternative-fuel vehicle.

Commercially successful green technology cars, like the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Tesla Model S, or Fisker Karma, stand fully on their own merits, and appeared in their own good time. But the path to success for these, and the dozens more alt-fuel vehicles now on the market, were made smoother and more accessible by the Prius’ early and continued success.

How long, then, before the Prius and its contemporaries reach the top of everyone’s search list?

Autoweek.com

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A significant part of this success can be attributed to the company’s hybrid lineup, wearing both the Toyota and Lexus badges.

The company said November was a record month for Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) hybrids, with 1,381 units sold. That represented 9.5 percent of total TCI sales. Year-to-date, 16,330 hybrid vehicles have been sold, eclipsing, with a month to go, the previous annual best of 13,546 set in 2008.

In total, Toyota hybrid sales stand at 1,124 units for November 2012, up 88.9 percent when compared to November 2011, for a new November record.

The Prius family itself represented 750 units sold, up 100 percent when compared to November 2011, for a new November record. The Prius v represented 312 units (up 19.5 percent) and the Prius c 158 units. The c even accounted for 15.3 percent of overall TCI subcompact sales in November.

On the SUV front, the Highlander Hybrid represented 126 units (up 15.6%) for another November record.

The Camry Hybrid represented 248 units (up 123.4 percent).

“We are proud to have set an all-time record for hybrid sales,” said Tony Wearing, Senior Managing Director, Toyota Canada Inc. “We are particularly excited that Canadians are attracted to the Prius family, up 100 percent from last year. Prius represents the future of personal mobility, offering a unique hybrid advantage under a proven and iconic brand.”

The luxury-side of the company saw total Lexus hybrid sales stand at 257 units (up 3.6 percent) for another November record. Hybrid models accounted for 20 percent of total Lexus sales in November.

The RX 450h stands at 50 units, totaling 680 units year to date (up 9.9 percent).

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