Toyota Prius Design May Be on the Chopping Block
If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, or so the old saying goes, but Toyota might be aiming to do just that.
It seems the brand is pondering whether or not to keep its Californian cross-bearing Prius hybrid shaped like an ugly hunk of cheese. Polarizing as it is, the fact remains that Toyota blazed a trail that Honda and Chevrolet would soon follow. But the question still remains: has the Prius’ curiously popular style run its course?
It’s an issue Toyota’s U.S. vice president of strategic planning, Chris Hostetter, is weighing carefully with his team. “One of the avenues we’re exploring right now is to evolve it, and the other is to really evolve it,” he said to Automotive News last month.
As Hostetter and his team continues to debate the nebulous design, it’s difficult not to weigh the shape’s merits and shortcomings.
On the one hand, it took everything conventional wisdom and aesthetics would suggest about attractive car design and ignored it — a strategy that ended up paying off. That’s because on the other hand, the cacamamie car caught hold of the market with surprising grip.
Global Prius sales through September reached 691,281, which is a 60 percent increase over last year. Strong as that point is, the car’s biggest strength is probably how its silhouette is synonymous with hybrid cars.
“We are emboldened to make a much different, much better Prius,” Hostetter said. “The consequences of that so far have been, I would say, dramatic.”
Despite that, it isn’t clear where the drama will surface. While you might assume that would mean a dramatic new body style, it could also suggest a revamped drivetrain — something the Prius is due for considering it still uses nickel-based batteries.
Then again, Toyota might be forced to capitulate and offer an anti-Prius of sorts. A car that offers the drivetrain without shrieking “hybrid driver” loud enough to silence a save the whales protest. The Prius C already went a tiny step in that direction, but Toyota might be wise to walk farther down that path, snatching a wider swath of buyers.
[Source: Automotive News]
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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Toyota needs to learn the Rothchild rule, which is, "I do not want the first million or the last million, I just want the ten in between." Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's VW design still has many adherents 77 years later. Toyota should also take a lesson from the Pennsylvania Dutch, who say: "Make new friends, keep the old, one is silver the other gold." Having said that, there is no reason that Toyota needs to wait over ten years to fix little annoyances like GM did/does. Toyota might start with the wiper on the hatchback and make it stay up while we are cleaning that window like the front windshield wipers do.