2023 Toyota Prius Prime Plug-in Hybrid Electric Car
Toyota
Toyota Motor won’t be giving up its flagship Prius hybrid anytime soon, even as it invests billions in all-electric vehicles amid criticism that it hasn’t moved fast enough in the emerging segment.
The automaker revealed late Tuesday new versions of the Prius hybrid and Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Both are considered “electrified” vehicles, not fully electric. They continue to use gas powered engines along with electric components that make the vehicles more fuel efficient.
Toyota hasn’t released U.S. specifications for the 2023 Prius models, but the cars are noticeably different in style than the current versions. The exterior is sportier, less fancy and looks more aerodynamic. But the overall silhouette is still recognizable as a Prius.
2023 Toyota Prius Hybrid
Toyota
Continuing with the Prius while other automakers pledge to go all-electric in the coming years is part of Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s electrification strategy. Auto scion believes that electric vehicles are not the only solution for automakers to achieve carbon neutrality – which the company hopes to achieve by 2050.
Simon Humphreys, Toyota’s senior design manager, did not shy away from recent criticism of the company’s current plans to develop hybrids alongside battery electric vehicles, or BEVs, and other potential technologies.
“With the current focus on BEVs, it seems like not a day goes by without hearing, ‘So how long are you going to keep making hybrids?’ disclosure in Japan.
Since the launch of the Prius in 1997, Toyota claims to have sold more than 20 million electrified vehicles worldwide. The company says these sales have avoided 160 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the impact of 5.5 million all-electric battery vehicles.
2023 Toyota Prius Interior
Toyota
Toyoda and other company executives said that all-electric vehicles are not viable for many drivers — especially in the foreseeable future — because not all parts of the world will adopt EVs at the same rate due to the high cost of the vehicles as well as a lack of infrastructure .
Humphreys reiterated the company’s position, saying that “Prius is an eco-car that’s affordable for everyone. To achieve carbon neutrality, everyone in the world needs to participate.”
“This is a car that should be driven by all people, not just a few. That is its greatest strength and that is its reason for existence,” he said.
In the US, the 2022 Prius starts at around $25,000 – far less than most all-electric vehicles – and gets up to 56 mpg, certified by the EPA. The 2022 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid starts around $29,000 and gets 133 MPGe, which takes into account the car’s 25-mile all-electric range as well as the fuel economy of its gas-powered engine.