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Japanese car manufacturer Toyota recently announced the pricing for the new Prius Hybrid Plug-in that will be in UK showrooms by mid 2012. The figure starts at £ 31,000 but this may still go lower by as much as £5,000 when the grant scheme of the government for green cars are implemented. Toyota qualifies for the funding after meeting the requirements for their plug-in cars.
The sticker price on the new Prius Plug-in is pretty competitive compared to the other electric vehicle units in the market today. The Prius too offers some flexibility in terms of performance as it combines a petrol engine with the lithium ion battery depended electric motor. The setup allows owners to go 14 miles in full EV mode. After covering the max of the distance as an EV, the Prius automatically turns on the whole hybrid system to run the car which includes the VVT-i 1.8L petrol powerplant. The range anxiety of drivers is therefore well addressed.
Recharging the Prius Plug-in Hybrid is also very convenient for end users. A full recharge of the lithium ion battery pack can be be achieved after plugging it in into an eletric supply at work, home, or public charging point for 1.5 hours.
The hybrid Toyota car is expected to only spew out 49 g/km of carbon dioxide and have an excellent combined fuel mileage of 134.5 miles per gallon. These number further enhances the position of the Toyota Prius Plug-in as a perfect choice for company fleets.
Contrary to an earlier report, it seems that the new supermini Prius C hybrid will be reaching UK showrooms. The Prius C with specs for Japan will be unveiled during the Tokyo auto show this coming November. This car will be the smallest among the lineup of Toyota Prius havgina dimension of 3995mm x 1695mm x 1445mm.
The new Prius C hybrid will have a petrol electric setup making use of 1.4L petrol engine working with an electric motor which will combine to have an output of 99 bhp. A CVT gearbox is used to transfer the power of the engines to the wheels. This super mini green vehicle will have its European unveiling at the motor show in Geneva in March next year.
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Zipcar is famous for being one of the world’s biggest car club service that has helped several car companies obtain real-life stats when it comes to car sharing. Zipcar has also been known to be a great alternative to car rental and the answer to the hefty price one pays for car ownership and maintenance.
Just recently, Zipcar has teamed up with Toyota and had added about eight units of the hybrid / plug-in versions of the well publicized and warmly embraced Toyota Prius, one of the biggest names in the Japanese carmaker’s roster of vehicles. These eight Pruis units are now part of Zipcar’s car-sharing options to choose from. These plug-in Prius models are aimed for test drives alone and won’t be sold anywhere until year 2012. However, Zipcar members that are stationed in San Francisco, Boston, Cambridge, and Portland can enjoy the benefits and get the feel of these new Prius plug-in versions.
This is part of Toyota’s joint pilot program with Zipcar. The Prius units will be able to give then real-time data that would be beneficial in their preparation for the plug-in’s launch by the year 2012. On the other hand, Zipcar aims to use these eight Prius plug-in models to assess the possibility of having a wider range of options when it comes to their fleet.
Of course, like all of Zipcar’s fleet options, the plug-in Toyota Prius is available by an hourly reservation with a $7 rate charged per sixty minutes of use. So go on and enjoy these new models through Zipcar.
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According to reports from the Japanese daily Nikkei, Toyota has expressed its desire to begin trials for their plug-in Prius vehicle. The stage for these trials is China, as announced by Toyota’s executive vice president Takeshi Uchiyamada during a press conferment at the 2010 Auto China in Beijing.
On that same day, the Toyota plug-in Prius also made its China debut. Toyota also made the Asia debut of the compact hybrid FT-CH, the China debut of electric vehicle FT-EV II, and the China debut of rear-wheel-drive lightweight sports car FT-86.
Toyota has already sold 709,000 vehicles in China which makes up 21% of its total sales. This year, the company is aiming for a 13% growth in sales, which means they need to sell about 800,000 vehicles. The company is positive that they can do this despite their recent recalls. This is because the sales have already increased to 43% during the first two months of this year. Toyota was able to sell 117,000 vehicles during these two months alone.
The car maker had to issue a recall notice in China for 75,552 RAV-4 sports utility vehicles. This was because the units had faulty gas pedals. Despite this setback, Toyota continues to develop more cars and remain positive about its endeavors.
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Japanese carmaker Toyota is planning to add to their line up a Coupe variant of the Toyota Prius hybrid. They are building on the success foundations laid by the 2010 hybrid vehicle which is now closed to being sold out because of the very high demand all over the globe.
The first of the additional styling that we might see on the Prius is the 2-door coupe that will target to topple the 2011 hybrid Honda CR-Z sports coupe.
The future member of the Prius line is expected to sport the same 4-cylinder 1.8L engine and Hybrid Synergy Drive set up of the current release of the Prius. The package though might come with better aerodynamics than the 5-door version which already boasts of a 0.25 drag coefficient– among the best for production cars today. The Prius coupe will also be a lot lighter than the family variant.
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Japanese car maker Toyota reveals its commitment to release in 2012 plug in hybrids for mass consumption. The first batch of lithium-ion battery powered vehicles will
be out by next year and will be ready for government and commercial fleets in Japan, Europe, and the United States. Mass production of the fuel efficient and environment-friendly vehicles will be by 2012.
A Japanese newspaper reports that Toyota will be producing between 20000 and 30000 units of plug-in hybrids come 2012. This will be two years after GM kicks off the production of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt.
A plug-in hybrid that was derived from the platform of the current Prius hybrid is expected to go to dealerships in Japan this month. This car will have a tag price starting at $47,800. The car will be able to travel for about 18.6 miles running on electric power alone. It depends on a pack of lithium ion batteries made by Panasonic EV Energy.
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The time for the extravagant stretch limos arriving at the red carpet for the Academy Awards might be history. Hollywood stars arrive in green cars at their red carpet welcome for the Oscar’s.
The 2010 Toyota Prius and the Oscar’s might really be a good mix. With the whole world watching and hundreds of flashbulbs flickering, the event was a great publicity and promotion of the silver screen elites’ advocacy to be green.
All eyes are on them when actors and actresses come to the biggest award’s night of the year. A gas gulper limo can definitely have a negative effect on their image now that fans and the press look at how the stars are ecologically conscious.
The 2010 Toyota Prius got the attention of the world amid the stars of the night serving as shuttle of the Hollywood elites. The Prius may actually be considered as a tribrid as it can also maximize the sun’s powers as solar panels are mounted on its roof.
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A bigger and better third-generation Toyota Prius with a highly improved hybrid drivetrain was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show.
Its system weight was reduced by almost 20 percent, with approximately 50-mpg fuel economy rating, nearly 90 percent of the hybrid’s drive system was re-engineered. This hybrid baby now runs with a lighter transaxle, which reduces torque loss, a more compact motor, and an inverter with a direct cooling mechanism.
The new Prius comes with 3 drive modes—EV-Drive is for low speed motoring that makes use of battery power alone; Eco for fuel-efficient driving; and Power with its increased throttle feedbacks for maximum performance.
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The board of executives of Toyota Motors Corporation in Japan decides to halt its production of the Prius in the United States. The decision comes amid lowering prices of fuel resulting to a slump in sales of the hybrid car.
Up to when the Prius project will be frozen is still not known. What is evident is the 32% drop in sales that Toyota experience in November of 2008.
Prius sales dramatically dropped year over year coming from 16737 units sold in November of 2007 to just 8660 cars in 2008.
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Toyota is set to launch more cars that use no gas at all. 
With the green campaign all over the world, Toyota rides with the environmental demand by coming up with cars that use only compressed natural gas car fuel (CNG).
CNG is more available than hydrogen as Irv Miller, manufacturer’s group VP for corporate communications, said. It has a pipeline that reaches 1.8 million miles in the United States. Though rare, since it only has 1,000 refueling stations all through US, it still has more than the approximately 10 hydrogen refill stations.
Toyota is even planning to release a Prius plug-in version for the fleet market around 2009. This will, of course, be greener.
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It’s good to know that the Toyota Prius is still the most popular hybrid car available on the market today. In an article titled “most popular hybrid cars on the market“, New Hybrid Cars Online talks about this issue and names the Prius the top choice for Hybrid lovers today.
Way to go, Toyota!
Good first post for our new blog. Expect more Toyota news from a big Toyota fan and Toyota driver here soon!
