Pious Prius Makes a Statement About Toyota's Street-Cred

YOUNTVILLE, CALIF. - Make no mistake, the Prius is the franchise, the brand, a rolling metaphor for everything Toyota is and wants to be.

This is why the redesigned, third-generation Toyota Prius , the 2010 version, matters so much. The Prius says everything about Toyota - from the company's cherished claims to great value in its vehicles, to proven reliability and ending with astonishing fuel efficiency and low emissions.

Heck, Consumer Reports contends the Prius is the best overall value of any of the 300 models it has tested.

It also ranks first in fuel economy, first in reliability among family cars and, for the sixth straight year, the Prius is the top-ranked "green" car. Similar research from other organizations reveals essentially the same results.

Good as it is, the raw sales numbers are unimpressive. They don't really add up to all that much.

Last year, Toyota Canada sold 4,458 Prius hatchbacks, out of a total of 200,000-plus vehicles overall. The best-selling car in the country, the Honda Civic, was at 72,463. Since 2000 and through the first part of this month, Toyota has sold 14,343 Prius hatchbacks - out of a total of some 1.4 million vehicles sold to Canadians during that time.

But the Prius isn't about sales; it's about validation for the Toyota brand. It's about proving - in a real, running car that is priced for affordability - all the publicly stated values of Toyota. This is the one car that matters more than any other, that is over-engineered beyond anything you'd expect in a $28,000 family car.

Toyota, of course, can see that the competition is worked up and anxious to undermine Toyota's hybrid leadership. Ford, just a few months ago, was handing out T-shirts at a major auto show, touting the superiority of its soon-for-sale 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Honda is weeks away from launching its 2010 Insight hybrid, which is a dead ringer for the outgoing 2009 Prius.

So to defend its turf, Toyota has pushed hard to reinvent the third-generation Prius. It offers better fuel economy than its predecessor, options commonly found in premium cars and a slightly larger interior.

This new Prius has a combined fuel economy rating of 3.8 litres/100 km (down from 4.1 L/100 km), making it the most fuel-efficient production car sold in Canada and the United States. Toyota says 90 per cent of the car's two-mode hybrid system is new. A 98-hp, 1.8-litre, four-cylinder engine replaces the 1.5-litre engine on the previous model.

The bigger engine produces more torque - 105 lb-ft versus 82 in the 2009 Prius, helping trim the 0-to-100 km/h time by about a second, to about 10 seconds.

Toyota, not surprisingly, has nit-picked, fine-tuned, tweaked, refined and ground out the details with an eye to making this Prius not just a step up from the '09. No, the plan here is to expand the gap with the competition.

So take the engine. It lacks belts - a first for Toyota. Power steering and the water pump are electrically operated. That improves fuel economy, because drag on the camshaft is reduced.

Then there is the new hybrid transaxle. It's smaller, 20 per cent lighter and capable of handling a higher torque load. A gear drive replaces the previous chain drive. The electric motor runs as high as 13,500 rpm, resulting in less reliance on the engine. The previous system was limited to 6,400 rpm.

And on and on and on.

For instance, the hybrid system offers three new driver-controlled features: Eco mode, EV mode and Power mode.

In Eco, the throttle is managed for fuel economy and the air conditioning is strictly controlled. In EV, the vehicle stays in electric-only mode longer at lower speeds. The vehicle can operate up to about 40 km/h for as long as about 1.6 km. And Power gives lead-footers quicker acceleration.

The exterior and interior of the Prius have been redesigned, too, though the look is instantly recognizable. The apex of the roof is farther back and that makes for more rear-seat head room, while the design is sleeker, with a drag coefficient of 0.25 versus 0.26 in the '09.

Even the seats, which in the '09 car are thin and not terribly comfy after an hour or so behind the wheel, are better. The driver's seat on the 2010 version can be raised or lowered, the cushion is wider and longer and thicker padding offers better bolster support. Power lumbar support and heated seats are available.

Amazing. We're talking about a fuel-efficient, ultra-clean hybrid, here, one that meets next-generation emissions standards. Yet you will soon be able to buy a Prius with luxury stuff such as leather seats and a solar panel attached to the optional sunroof. The latter creates electricity to run a fan that cools the interior when the car is parked.

You can also get Dynamic Radar Cruise Control that adjusts vehicle speed, applies light braking if necessary and warns the driver to take evasive action if a crash is imminent. Or Intelligent Parking Assist: this is a Lexus-like offering that guides the car into a parallel parking space.

Other improvements on the safety side: four-wheel disc brakes designed to deliver far better and smoother stops and standard stability and traction control, active front head restraints and seven airbags.

Toyota Canada managing director Stephen Beatty calls the Prius an "icon of sustainable technology." What that really means is that the Prius is Toyota's halo car - the one vehicle that casts a glow across the entire Toyota lineup. He goes so far as to say the Prius is not just Toyota's most rational vehicle, "it is the most emotional, too."

Rational? Sure, it's fuel-efficient and reliable. But Toyota is pushing hard this idea that the Prius is the one vehicle "most associated with the future of the automobile," says Beatty - that the Prius is a car that can get you all dewy-eyed.

That's because it's the vehicle that gives owners bragging rights to 21st-century values; the one vehicle that screams out the "green" street cred of its owners. At least that's the Toyota pitch.

And with that pitch, Toyota is launching a new car that embodies what this company is and where it's going. As the Prius goes, so goes Toyota.

A growing crowd: The hybrid world is changing fast

Toyota introduced the Prius in Japan in 1997 and then brought it to Canada in 2000 as a four-door compact sedan. That made it the second mass-produced hybrid sold in Canada, after the bullet-shaped Honda Insight two-seater, which came in 1999.

The second-generation Prius arrived in 2003 as a five-door hatchback. Between then and now, Toyota has expanded the range of vehicles using the Hybrid Synergy Drive to include such models as the Camry, Lexus RX and Highlander Hybrids. Toyota's commitment to hybrids, the company's relentless marketing push and the oddball styling of the Prius that set it apart from other cars, have made Toyota and hybrid synonymous.

Sure, Ford launched the Escape Hybrid and has since sold 100,000 hybrids this decade. Honda has the Civic Hybrid and flirted with a high-performance Accord Hybrid. And General Motors offers a range of hybrids, both mild - cars unable to run on electricity alone - and full, such as the two-mode Chevrolet Tahoe.

But until now, Toyota has far and away ruled the hybrid world with some 1.7 million sold worldwide. But the marketplace is already filling up with rival hybrids and promises to get even more crowded in the months and years ahead. Even German car makers are now touting hybrid-powered vehicles, even as they push their expertise in diesels. Today, there are 24 pickup trucks, sport-utes, crossovers, economy cars, luxury cars, sport sedans and a couple of tough-to-classify vehicles that can be called hybrids - that combine an internal combustion engine and electric motors in a dual powertrain.

JEREMY CATO
Globe and Mail
March 19, 2009