Wow! The new generation Toyota Prius is actually… beautiful

The Toyota Prius has won many awards in its life, but a beauty award has never been one of them. This fifth generation, which looks very sleek, proves that ugly chicks can also become beautiful.

Toyota still believes in hybrids. That’s why the brand has been so reluctant to launch fully electric cars. Toyota is trying to defend its hybrid store tooth and nail and has spent a lot of money and effort in recent years campaigning against strict emissions regulations and measures to encourage electric vehicle adoption.

The Toyota Prius is 25 years old

As conservative as Toyota is today, the brand was innovative 25 years ago when it launched the first production hybrid: the Toyota Prius. It was literally and figuratively a gray car with absolutely no sex appeal. That changed somewhat with the fourth generation. It was certainly striking, but not necessarily beautiful.

Very flat windshield

So the Toyota designers sat down and actually penned a beautiful fifth generation Prius. Its design is slim and has almost no line too much. The very flat windscreen of the Prius and its distinctive teardrop shape are striking. We see something of the Mercedes EQE in it.

The fact that the Toyota Prius is now quite hard on the wheels is partly due to the dimensions of the car. It’s gotten a bit wider, a bit lower, but also shorter. In addition, it is shod with 19-inch alloy wheels, and the designers made a very thin crossover edging around the wheel arches.

Only plug-in hybrid to Europe

You can order a hybrid or plug-in hybrid version of the current Toyota Prius. That’s going to change. Toyota brings only the plug version of the new Prius to our country. It has a 148 hp 2.0-liter petrol engine and an electric motor with 160 hp. Combined, this results in an output of 223 hp. This means that the Prius is exactly 101 hp more powerful than its predecessor.

There are more differences. The Prius’ battery has much more capacity, now 13.6 kWh, but is physically much more compact. The battery now fits under the back seat. And that makes for more luggage space than the previous Prius, which had it all under the load floor. The electric range is said to have increased from 50 kilometers to around 70 – 80 kilometers.

Spring 2023 in the Netherlands

The interior then, where we find a dashboard very reminiscent of that of the Toyota bZ4X. The digital cockpit sits far from the driver and, like Peugeot’s i-Cockpit, feels a bit high. Toyota doesn’t wait long to launch the all-new Prius. It is expected in the Netherlands in spring 2023.