Toyota tries (but fails) to toughen up Prius c
Japanese car-maker shows crossover version of petrol-electric city-car that features rugged black plastic but no actual off-road abilityUPDATE 26/07/2017 12:30pm: Toyota Australia says it has no plans to introduce any further derivatives of the Prius c in Australia, where an upgraded version of the small hybrid hatch will be released later this year.
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Toyota has released pictures of a new crossover version of its Prius c hybrid hatch that has been created for the Japanese domestic market.
Featuring what looks like a raised ride, front and rear fender protection, plus front and rear bash plates, the new rugged styling has been added to appeal to customers attracted to crossovers.
Sadly, behind the decorative cladding lies no all-wheel drive hardware, locking differential or even an advanced off-road ESC mode.
Instead, the Prius c keeps its petrol-electric hybrid powertrain that produces, in total, 74kW/111Nm 1.5-litre.
The good news is, despite the extra weight of the crossover's styling pack the standard car's 3.9L/100km fuel consumption and 90g/km of CO2 emissions remain unchanged.
It's not yet known if the Prius c crossover will be offered Down Under but in Japan the more rugged hybrid is thought to command only a small price premium over the standard version.
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