Toyota’s next Prius aims for three goals

After months of speculation, the Prii, meaning a four-car family of Prius hybrid vehicles, are finally getting let out of the gates. A couple of weeks ago we broke the news in our blog “The Prius v arrives to Handy Toyota” that we had finally received our first Prius v, the first new member of the Prius family that gets up to 44 mpg in the city while increasing the cabin area by 58%, and those of you who subscribe to our blog might have read our blog about the Prius Plug-in test drive blog, in which I explained my thoughts after having been given the chance by Toyota Motors to take a short, two-mile jaunt in the new plug-in hybrid vehicle. So considering the current original Prius is obviously already on the lot that leaves just one more of the Prii: the Prius c.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Toyota Prius c (not to mention anyone getting confused by all the letters and Roman numerals being utilized), the Prius c is basically a compact version of the Prius. This is an exciting prospect to folks that live in a tightly packed city Boston, MA with its absurdly out of date, narrow streets, a highly populated and congested area like New York City or Washington, D.C., or even commuter neighborhoods like Burlington, VT. Not only does the smaller size of the Prius c as shown in the image above make for a great new Toyota vehicle to purchase in Burlington, but it also has a sportier feel due to the small size, great fuel economy, and today Toyota announced very likely the smallest price tag of the bunch.

In a press release issued earlier today, Toyota Motors announced that the latest version of its still-mid-concept Prius c hybrid vehicle is going to get upwards of 50 mpg in the city. Though no suggested retail price of any kind has been issued, this could mean the Prius c will start in the $20,000 range, perhaps even plus or minus a thousand dollars or so (keep in mind this last bit is my personal speculation, not a confirmation of any sort otherwise).

Additional features of the Prius c will include, as USAToday.com reports, “an unexpected level of convenience, capability, and technology.” This includes Bluetooth phone connectivity, steering wheel-mounted audio and phone controls, an impressive nine airbags (where do they put them all?!), and very likely Toyota’s new Entune infotainment head unit.

For more on the Prius c, check back with the Handy Toyota blog in January 2012 when the new, compact version of the Prius hybrid vehicle is released in showroom form at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Chris Dugan
Handy Toyota
St. Albans, VT 05478