Toyota details next Prius

Fresh from notching up three million Prius sales globally last month (but only 18,300 in Australia), Toyota has revealed the first official details of the fourth generation due to emerge next year before going on sale in 2015.

Seen in the first spy shots earlier this month, the Mk4 Prius will retain its signature shape but Toyota has now confirmed it will also be larger inside yet more fuel-efficient due to smaller, lighter critical parts that cost less to produce.

Representing the biggest mechanical upgrade since the first Prius went on sale in Japan more than 15 years ago, the next Prius will be built on Toyota’s new modular global platform and fitted with a smaller, more powerful electric motor.

There’s no word on whether the Mk4 Prius will downsize from the current model’s 1.8-litre petrol engine, which consumes 3.9L/100km, but Ogiso indicated it would at least match the 10 per cent efficiency gains achieved with each previous Prius generation.

The Prius’ current petrol engine has a thermal efficiency of 38.5 percent – Toyota says that will increase to more than 40 per cent in the next model – a world record.

“The current Prius has held America’s fuel economy crown for many years,” said Ogiso. “In its three generations, Prius MPG has improved on average by about 10 per cent, each generation. The challenge to continue to improve at this rate -- to beat your own record -- becomes very difficult, but makes it all the more motivating.  We are very motivated to beat our record.”

Improvements in battery technology have also been promised, but it remains unclear if the 2015 Prius will finally dispense with nickel metal hydride technology in favour of the newer lithium-ion technology seen in the Prius v people-mover.

Speaking at a hybrid event outside Detroit yesterday, Toyota managing officer Satoshi Ogiso said the new Prius will bring improved fuel-efficiency, new advanced safety technologies and a larger interior with “significant refinements in design, layout and ease of operation”.

The next Prius will be built on the scalable Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), which will underpin both the Corolla and the Camry, bringing a lower centre of gravity, stiffer body structure and “greatly improved driving dynamics”.

“When the next-generation Prius arrives, it will begin a new era for a broad range of Toyota and Lexus vehicle by marking the arrival of a substantially improved family of hybrid power trains,” said Ogiso, who helped develop the first Prius released in 1997. Since then Toyota has become the world leader in hybrid vehicle sales, with more than five million hybrids sold globally.

Ogiso said the next Prius will include batteries with higher energy density, following increased research, development and production capacity for both nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries.

The current Prius motor provides four times the power density of the first generation, he said, adding that Toyota has also stepped up its development of new battery technologies including solid state and lithium air, and its studies of elements beyond lithium, including magnesium.

Ogiso said there were no plans to expand the Prius family, which currently includes the small Prius hatch, the smaller Prius c and the seven-seat Prius v, although a replacement for the plug-in hybrid version not sold here will be developed in parallel.

He also confirmed it is considering demands for a longer driving range in the Prius Plug-In and is developing a new wireless-inductive charging system, verification of which will begin next year.

“We have been listening very carefully to Prius PHV owners and are considering their requests for additional all-electric range. We have also heard from owners that they would like a more convenient charging operation,” Ogiso said.

“In response, we are developing a new wireless/inductive charging system that produces resonance between an on-floor coil and an onboard coil to transmit power to the battery, providing charging without the fuss of a cable.”

Toyota also restated its intention to release the company’s first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell vehicle – a new mid-size sedan that will be unveiled at the Tokyo motor show in November -- globally in 2015.

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