Toyota Prius - How would you change it?
Multiple Prius derivatives inevitableSome day soon, Toyota will begin rolling out new hybrid cars, a bit different than the current Prius, but that will also utilize the Prius name plate, such as a larger crossover Prius, or a smaller city Prius. Shoot. Maybe a convertible Prius, or a two seat, sporty Prius. And, of course, a plug-in Prius.
Setting aside plug-in functionality, if it was your task to develop a new Prius derivative, what kind of car would you craft? For me its always been a small as possible city car, a Prius that would challenge the Smart Car in terms of size, but with more than twice the fuel economy. What about you?
Labels: Hybrid Vehicles, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
6:44 AM
25 Comments:
Toyota Prius Station Wagon! Or give us a Toyota Matrix Hybrid.
I think the size of it is about right. I do wonder if there would be a market for a two door sport version. I am sure it would sell, though so I guess I vote for the 2-door coupe!
Also, I would really like to see Toyota use a CNG ICE rather than gasoline. That would be the killer app, in my opinion, UNTIL we have other fuels to use that can be replenished in the earth.
Think more passengers to get the minivan/SUV crowd. Something slightly wider would help. I was initially thinking 3rd row seating, but then the longer wheelbase would be a problem with the aerodynamics of being low to the ground. The Highlander and Escape suffer from being too high off the ground to get better mileage as hybrids. But if you could do a bench seat up front 3 up front and 3 adults in the back, you might be able to get by. It would also enlarge the hatch storage capacity a bit too.
hey, a station wagon could offer a third row of seating.
i do agree, kp, that making this vehicle big enough to entice more of the minivan crowd is probably a really smart idea. toyota should definitely put a larger Prius out there, at least in a concept form, to see how the minivan crowd would react to such a vehicle.
my city hybrid, on the other, just fulfills my selfish desires. still, maybe it could appeal to the scion crowd.
jabroni, obviously Toyota is willing to take the natural gas route if it seems like a market is there. i know the honda CNG vehicle doesn't sell real well here in California, but the owners i've talked to love the vehicle.
still, i think it would be wise for toyota to make a smaller, maybe more important, cheaper, prius. if toyota could create an $17,500 subcompact with decent ammenities - customizable of course - and exceptional fuel economy, i think they could easily sell 100,000 units per year.
I think based on the cost and weight of the battery system, smaller/cheaper versions of the Prius aren't feasible from a profitability standpoint.
Other manufacturers, like Volvo, that have experimented with in-wheel electrical motors may be better designed for small/city vehicles. Possibly eliminating the ICE should simplify the transmission and form of the vehicle as well.
perhaps, obviously such vehicles would offer less profit margins,
still toyota has stated that it has again significantly reduced the size, weight and costs of its hybrid components for the third generation, which has now been significantly reduced from the first gen prius.
the first gen prius was a pretty small vehicle. if the hybrid components are now half the weight and size of the hybrid components in the first gen - i think its actually more, but i'll be conservative - then it would seem that Toyota has a lot of new room to work with.
thus, i would conclude that Toyota could go a good bit smaller than the original prius, without any significant changes to the HSD.
likewise, a few Japanese analysts have claimed that toyota has now achieved economies of scale on its hybrid technology, and that the technology is becoming quite profitable to toyota's bottom line.
so, while profit margins might be lower on such a vehicle, the customization aspect might make up the difference. this worked pretty well for scion, but i think a hybrid provides a more compelling case.
ultimately, price is keeping many more potential customers out of the prius. yet, a lot of what i've heard indicates the third gen prius will see a price increase.
will this fly with their huge increase in production and competition from the Insight? especially, if gas prices temporarily recede?
in my opinion such a small city prius would steal a lot of thunder from Honda's Insight if Toyota could sell it for less.
and if people decide it's too small, they'll upgrade to the full-sized prius and skip Honda altogether. but if honda has the cheapest hybrid on the market, i think it'll attract a lot of hybrid consumers out of toyota dealerships.
Well, it would be smart two doors car. And it’s selling will break the record of two doors. One thing if add more it will be CNG ICE rather than gasoline. It will control the fuel economy.
two doors for my small city car would be just fine with me. it would also reduce costs.
Toyota can have different grades of Prius; ranging from the standard hybrids to plug in prius to Prius EV.
Plug it in, plug it in!
PHEV Supra HSD pretty please? :)
just imagine, stalker stealth mode; sneak up on your prey, then step on it and enjoy the sound of a twin-turbo V6 spooling up, ready to be unleashed :)
PHEV for commutes, HSD boost for taking those Insights out :P
That FT-HS concept seemed so close to becoming that reality!
Don't charge more than the MSRP. Also, make sure that there's height adjustment and that the car is easy to get in and out of; not too low to the ground. Other than that, I think that the present Prius is just the right size for city and highway driving.
On my last Prius shopping trip, about a month ago, I found any dealer add-ons were negotiable. With this recession, dealer markups can't last.
More leg room.
I am 5'9" and have a bad left knee. I wanted a hybrid but I can't put the seat back far enough in the Prius to be comfortable.
The Camry hybrid has plenty of leg room so I bought it instead.
It's butt ugly, that's for sure. The Big 3 would not be in the financial situation they're in if they had had the foresight to come out with a hybrid competitor. They've sat on their hands for about 5 years now while gas prices rose and Toyota walked off with the profits. It's their own fault that they have offered no other choice to the 50+ MPG that Prius offers, ugly or not.
The Prius might not be the greatest looking cars, but once you get in it, you realize how functional it is, and how much waste there is in other cars.
It's been a huge mistake not to challenge the Prius for US automakers. Still, even if they did challenge the Prius, i think they would still need a bailout.
I bought a 2008 Prius last year. We liked it so well we order 2009 and we received it 3 weeks ago. We travel alot of Highway miles and find it to be Great on gas and plenty of room. I am sold on this car as you can see. We have two.
We have an '06 Prius that my wife usually drives and just loves it. She consistently gets around 47 mpg. The only dissatisfaction she has with the car is the uncomfortable seats that rear that discomfort on longer rides. She bought an after market pad that addresses the issue but a more supportive seat with lumbar support would be an improvement.
We also had the experience of being ticketed for a burned out headlight. I then learned that it was going to cost over $300 to get the headlamp bulb replaced as it is expensive, the front bumper has to be removed and is NOT user serviceable. Fortunately it was covered under warranty, but what's the engineering rationale for this design ?
Honda seems to believe that the future of automotive propulsion is hydrogen fuel cell power. If they are correct, we will need hydrogen fueling stations. One excellent way to make the transition while infrastructure is built is the dual fuel vehicle. The Prius I would like to drive would be such a transition vehicle. It should be a plug-in hybrid with the ability to use either gasoline or hydrogen as fuel.
i like the dual fuel solution. Several automakers have been toying with that possibility.
Still, I think you'd have to see a commitment to hydrogen production before investing in such dual fuel vehicles. And that is going to take some breakthroughs in hydrogen production, I think.
Make it more SNOW friendly.
For SNOW, get a separate set of wheels with snow tires. Our 2006 Prius was bad in the Pittsburgh snow with the original all-seasons. I ordered a set of snow tires mounted on 15" alloy wheels and it handles well. I just swap out my wheels each fall and spring and ignore the false tire pressure alarms all winter.
In terms of ground clearance, the car has to stay low to the ground or risk drag underneath and kill your mileage year-round.
I won't drive any car with low ground clearance. In the 3 years that I had a VW New Beatle, I got hung up twice on ridges of frozen slush. I survived both times. Now I drive a Honda CR-V with plenty of ground clearance. If the Prius has low ground clearance, I would never consider it, regardless of any other factors.
Convert the car to H2-O2. See:
http://www.hicon.us/gpage20.html
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