Toyota Prius: Techno-cred for new Prius

Toyota's new Prius comes to market with a lot of expectations to match. For a start, the car it replaces has become synonymous with frugality and caring for the environment.

The new model -- the third generation of a car that has really kicked off the current global interest in hybrids -- is built on a modified version of the Corolla platform and is more refined, better equipped, offers better driveability and still improves on its predecessor's fuel efficiency.

According to Toyota, the new Prius (more here) is the cleanest-running car available in Australia -- the hybrid emitting 89g/km CO2 particles and recording a combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 3.9L/100km -- with the same figure for the City cycle and an even lower figure of 3.7L/100km out on the highway.

But the Prius in this third generation model is not just a fuel miser to offset all your carbon emissions, it is also a showcase for leading edge technology in other areas. New convenience features offered in the hybrid model for the first time include solar-powered ventilation to circulate cooling air within the car's cabin and reduce the temperature inside the car to a level approaching the external ambient temperature.

There are also radar-based pre-crash and active cruise control systems, Intelligent Parking Assistance, head-up display and flashing LED tail lights under emergency braking.

Toyota bandies about figures like $4000 and $10,000 for the "added spec" in the Prius and Prius i-Tech respectively, but there's no escaping the fact that the hybrid tour de force is not cheap and the high-tech features introduced with the new model will be seen by some buyers as a means for Toyota to excuse the pricing, rather than a reason for it.

While the Prius has never been a cheap way to assuage your environmental conscience, at least with the new model Toyota has kept the starting price below $40,000. That base Prius is priced at $39,900, but the Prius i-Tech is priced at $53,500 -- a rise that Toyota admits represents an increase of $6600 over the previous model Prius i-Tech. Toyota's Senior Executive Director for Sales & Marketing, David Buttner, addressed the 'ratio' of pricing to specification during the car's local launch earlier this week.

"With the third-generation model, every Prius has seven airbags, stability and traction control, Smart Entry and Start, the multi-information display, Touch Tracer and Head-Up Display among its comprehensive features," he said.

"All this technology is new or was previously offered only with the i-Tech. We calculate the added spec in the Prius model at more than $4000 -- a very conservative number. Our new price means we are recovering less than two-thirds of the value of the added spec.

"We've even been able to sneak under the launch price of the first Prius, yet there is no comparison in terms of style, performance, equipment and technology."

So the entry-level price of the Prius is not much in dispute for the technological progress the car represents -- but how about that i-Tech model, the model with all the good gear?

"Once again, we have valued the new i-Tech features conservatively at around $10,000," says Buttner to that.

"As with the Prius grade, our new i-Tech price means we are recovering just two-thirds of the added value and still no new-model premium."

Subsequently, Buttner informed the Carsales Network that Toyota plans for its upcoming Camry Hybrid to be the volume-selling fuel-sipper in the range -- priced below the Prius. Asked whether the Camry Hybrid would also be priced below base-spec Aurion, he neatly side-stepped.

"You've only gotta wait until February next year and we'll tell you the full price..."

That leaves the Prius as a semi-prestige flag-bearer for Toyota's environmental strategy -- and that's the way it has to be in essence, since the Prius also provides the platform for the upmarket Lexus HS 250 h (more here). Add to that Toyota's assertion that the Prius attracts buyers trading in their C-Class, 3 Series and A4 models and it's apparent that there's a cashed-up niche in the market filled by the Prius. Given the Prius i-Tech is priced below the Luxury Car Tax threshold ($57,180), it probably looks like a regular bargain.

If, by chance, the buyer isn't swayed by the fancy Prius, the base model can be optioned up with a Navigation pack, comprising: satellite navigation with seven-inch screen, Intelligent Park Assist and reversing camera. This option costs a further $5000 over the price of the base model -- $44,900 in full.

The base Prius variant's kit includes: 15-inch alloy wheels, seven airbags, stability control, keyless entry/start, auto-up/down electric windows, electric lumbar adjustment for driver's seat, steering wheel controls for air conditioning/audio/mobile phone, multi-information display, 'Touch Tracer' prompt system, Head-Up Display and eight-speaker audio.

Additional features fitted as standard to the Prius i-Tech consist of: DVD-based satellite navigation, Intelligent Park Assist (which reverses the car into a parking space with the driver providing just braking control), LED low-beam headlights, auto-headlight levelling, pop-up headlight cleaning, radar-based active cruise control, Pre-Crash safety system, sunroof-mounted solar cells to power interior cooling fans, leather-bound steering wheel, leather interior trim (seats/doors/rear of centre console), front-seat heating, electro-chromatic mirror, climate control and a tyre-repair kit in lieu of the space-saver spare fitted to the base model.

Is the Prius too expensive then?

One way to answer that is with the observation that Toyota has been selling the Prius in larger numbers with each passing year -- and the company projects selling 4500 units in 2010 -- so there are people out there willing to pay for the technology and energy-saving hallmarks, backed by Toyota's name for reliability and resale.

The Carsales Network will cover the Prius in some detail, so keep an eye peeled for our further reports.

Further reading:
Toyota's hybrid onslaught
Eight-year hybrid battery warranty for Toyota, Lexus
Hybrid innovation drives new Prius
Toyota Prius - Run to Melbourne
Diesel is dead say detractors
FTHS still on the cards?
Toyota answers hybrid sceptics

Pictures: Base Prius (blue car/two-tone interior with audio LCD readout), Prius i-Tech (grey car with monotone interior and 7" TFT satnav screen).

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