The third Toyota Prius generation: more potent, more compact

A third Toyota Prius generation promises to reach a high level both on the inside and the outside. With a more powerful electric motor, it offers 82 horsepower rather than 68. Additionally, it’s more compact and weighs less. The internal combustion motor is an Atkinson-cycle engine, as the previous Toyota Prius had, which has an exhaust recirculation system that optimizes the temperature of the motor, makes enriching the combustion mix to lower the temperature unnecessary, and avoids harming the catalyser through overheating. The new Toyota Prius has bodywork that’s 15 mm longer and 20 wider. The height and the distance between the axels have not varied. The tires can be 15 or 17 inch in diameter. The electronic direction now has an adjustable-depth steering wheel. The steering diameter is 10.4 meters. Additionally, the Toyota Prius has improved in its capacity to maintain speed on long steep slopes thanks to the motor’s greater torque, which comes accompanied by a reduction in average mileage to 3.9 liters per 100 km, which is equivalent to 89 g per km of CO2 emissions. These figures greatly more improved than the current model’s and the competitor’s. But the best thing from the driver’s point of view is that the car gains in reaction, since it only takes 9.8 seconds to reach 100 km an hour – 1.1 seconds less than before. Toyota intends to increase its Prius sales in Europe to 60,000 units per year. In Spain, 2,325 Toyota Prius were sold in 2008, and in 2010 the goal is to reach 3,000. For 2009, the objective is just 2,000, of which 1,200 should be this new model. The Toyota Prius will arrive in September at some very adjusted prices that could be almost 3,500 euros less than the current Toyota Prius.