Hybrid Toyota gets equipment upgrade

Toyota has upgraded it Prius petrol-electric hybrid vehicle. The latest round of changes -- for vehicles on sale from December -- includes the fitment of a reversing camera on the Prius i-TECH high-ticket model.

The change makes Prius the first Toyota vehicle available in Australia with a rear view camera. (Toyota's luxury marque Lexus offers a camera on its RX330 SUV)

The Toyota Back Monitor camera is linked to a 175mm Electro Multi-Vision (EMV) screen in the Prius i-TECH model dashboard. The EMV screen also provides touch-screen control for the car's standard satellite navigation system (also upgraded), as well as the audio system, climate control, trip computer and Bluetooth phone system.

The latest Prius is priced from $37,000, with the i-TECH model starting at $46,500 including leather trim for the first time.

Other changes to the Prius range include lower rear seat height, revised instruments and MP3/WMA compatible audio package and minor styling tweaks. New colours are also offered outside (Silver Pearl, Wildfire and Pistachio) and for the cloth trimmed interior.

The latest upgrades to Prius come as total sales of Toyota hybrid vehicles have topped the 500,000 mark. Approximately 513,000 Toyota hybrids had been sold worldwide by the end of October 2005.