Toyota aims for Prius fun

The next Toyota Prius will deliver a smile to the driver’s face not only because the petrol-electric hybrid will be more economical.

The fourth Prius will also be more fun to drive, promises Toyota Motor Corporation Deputy Chief Office Satoshi Ogiso, who is known as the father of the Prius because he has led the development of all three generations released so far and is finalising the new car, which goes on sale in 2015.

Ogiso said he was conscious of the increased passion Toyota global boss Akio Toyoda was trying to inject in the company through more interesting cars that are more enjoyable to drive, but stressed Prius could not substitute fun for frugality.

But he also acknowledged that Prius customers were asking the car be more fun to drive as well, something it hasn’t really been renowned for since it first appeared in 1997.

“Akio-san is my boss and I like him very well and he understands Prius sell very well,” Ogiso said. “So based on his direction I translate his order to Prius concept and at the same time Prius prioritisation is basically facing directly on to the customer requirements, not looking at top executive of Toyota Motor Corporation.

“At this moment customer satisfied with Prius environmental performance and additionally fun to drive is also coming from customer side, so we will try and add both things.

“But we should not compromise Prius efficiency or Prius innovation brand strong point by the fun to drive. So we have to expand both things.”

Ogiso is certainly well placed to deliver on improved vehicle character for not only Prius but for virtually all the Toyota range, as the engineer controls product planning for all chassis design, compact engines, all hybrids and all electric vehicles including the hydrogen fuel cell cars that start rolling out in 2015.

And the good news is he is a car nut, the 30-year veteran of TMC revealing he was inspired by the original Hachi-Roku 86 that was launching around the time he graduated from university.

“That is one of the strong reasons I joined Toyota,” he said.

Ogiso has spoken already on the public record in 2013 about the fourth generation Prius, and he has also talked of potentially adding an SUV to the line-up that already includes the mainstay five-door hatch, larger v, smaller c and a plug-in.

Ogiso has confirmed he would like to hit 10 per cent improvement target for fuel efficiency for the new car as generation two and three had over their predecessors.

But he admitted that the challenge became harder as each generation’s economy improved.

“Improvement ratio saturated a little so the improvement may go down to eight per cent or something.

“The current Prius is world record for USA, 50 mpg (it’s rated at 3.9L/100km in Australia), so please imagine breaking world record by 10 per cent. For example Usain Bolt’s (100m sprint) word record is 9.7 seconds and improving that by 10 per cent is 8.8 seconds or something. So a very high task but we will try and do.”

While reticent to go into too much detail, Ogiso pointed to the new Toyota TNGA platform as a source of both mechanical improvement and cost reduction for Prius, while he hinted the petrol engine could be downsized while producing more power, torque and economy, while the electric motor would definitely be downsized. There will also be an equipment boost.

“Next-generation Prius should improve both driveability and fuel efficiency. We should improve battery power and we should improve gasoline engine performance.

“Additionally we have to add some equipment or something with an affordable price. We are now every time trying to add most big improvement steps for the new generation, but that is always the case of Prius development.”

Ogiso would not say whether Prius would stick with a nickel metal hydride or swap to a lithium-ion battery, as employed by the plug-in and some v models.

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