Toyota Prius to be plug-in hybrid only in Europe

Toyota will sell the new Prius only as a plug-in hybrid in European markets to promote the car as a technology trailblazer.

Toyota unveiled the Prius on Wednesday with a sleeker, sportier redesign and a new range of more powerful drivetrains.

The fifth-generation of the compact car has been engineered as a full hybrid and a plug-in hybrid, but Toyota Europe has focused on the high-powered plug-in version.

The Prius "has always inspired the future of other models and the new generation continues that pioneering spirit," Toyota Europe said in a statement.

The Prius's new plug-in hybrid drivetrain comprises a 2.0-liter gasoline engine and a beefed up electric motor that provide a combined power output of 223 hp, up from 122 hp in the current plug-in version.

The electric-only driving range in the new plug-in variant increases by more than 50 percent, thanks to a bigger 13.6-kilowatt hour lithium ion battery, Toyota said.

The automaker did not release details of the electric only range. It also did not release CO2 emission figures. The current Prius plug-in uses a 8.8 kWh battery and has a range of 55 km (34 miles).

The plug-in version accerelates from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) in 6.7 seconds, compard with 11.1 seconds in the current model.

“We wanted to show we could maintain the efficiency and see a jump in performance," Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada said. "We do not have to have a trade-off. We can do both," he told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automotive News.

The fifth-generation Prius enters production in December at the company's Tsutsumi assembly plant in Toyota City, where the outgoing version is built.

The updated coupe-themed styling starts with updated front end that employs the new ‘hammerhead’ language seen in the bZ4X all-electric crossover.

The car is built on the second-generation GA-C platform of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), which Toyota says reduces weight and increases rigidity.

The automaker achieved a lower center of gravity by moving the battery under the rear seats.

The aerodynamic silhouette has been achieved partly by lowering the overall height by 50 mm and moving the roof peak rearwards.

The Prius also adopts larger diameter tires up to 19 inches in size, helping cure the ungainly look of its small-wheeled predecessor.

The wheelbase has been stretched by 50 mm while the overall length has shortened by 46 mm, which based on the measurements of the outgoing car makes it 4494 mm long. The car is also 22 mm wider, Toyota said without giving full measurement figures.

The Prius was once Toyota’s leading hybrid in Europe, but the automaker withdrew the model from Europe this year after selling just 2,291 in 2021, according to figures from market analysts Dataforce.

Toyota's hybrid focus in the region has shifted to models such as the Corolla, which was the second biggest-selling model in Europe's compact segment through September with 101,417 units sold.

Global sales of the standard Prius hatchback peaked at 509,380 vehicles in 2010. By last year, they fell to just 85,970.

In total, Toyota has sold more than 4.7 million Prius cars since 1997 when the first model was launched

Inside the new Prius, the dashboard is dominated by a large central touchscreen, while the driver receives the majority of their information from a 7-inch screen direct in the field of vision.

Toyota will reveal more details about the car at the company’s Kenshiki forum media briefing to held in Brussels at the end of November.

Sales will begin in Japan in January, with European sales starting in spring. Toyota will not sell the new Prius in the UK, citing the market's shift to SUVs.