Disputed Prius Images Are the Real Deal

There was some initial confusion about whether or not a few Prius photos that appeared all over the web recently were officially the 2010 Toyota Prius. Toyota PR, however, has confirmed with auto blog Jalopnik that they are indeed photos of the next-generation Prius. We warn you, however, they are not of the best quality. We’ll keep our ear to the ground and bring you concrete information as it becomes available.

Basically, it looks like the current Prius, and it's still using a nickel-metal hydride battery rather than a lithium-ion one, which we keep hearing is the wave of the future. Still, the 2010 Prius is supposed to have a more powerful electric motor and increased fuel efficiency. The most popular hybrid on the road has never been big into beauty contests anyway.

The new Prius’ official release is slated for the 2009 Detroit auto show in January, which is when we'll have full information and much better images from Toyota, and from our own staff on the ground.

Check out the pics after the jump, and let us know what you think of the design in the comments.

This IS the New Toyota Prius (Jalopnik)

Comments

Could be real interesting to see the battle between the Prius and the Insight.

Looks like the redesign done on the Corolla.

A nice evolutionary design. It's ugly IMO, but it should sell well if it's gas mileage is increased as little 5%.

I personally think the Insight looks better, but the Prius will likely get slightly better fuel economy. It'd be a hard choice between the two, but if the Insight is significantly cheaper (as rumors suggest) I'd probably buy the Insight over the Prius.

But to each his own.

You win with either car but for me it would be the Insight. I'll gladly take a little less mpg to have a better looking car (IMO). Toss in a lower price and it's a win-win.
Does anybody know if that sinking rock (GM) has managed to attach itself to the other sinking rock (Chrysler)? Both of them should just go away and leave it to the Japanese and Germans. Ford can shrink itself further down and be the sole provider of rental cars replacing GM.

Something is wrong here. The headlight looks completely different in one of the photos.

ugly car, ugly corolla front, but likely still will fly of the car lots. Warning though, if gas continues to fall or even stay even, hybrid sales will go flat. Americans are now used to 4 dollars a gallon and in my opinion it will have to go to 5 dollars a gallon NATIONWIDE to see hybrids take off again.

Would somebody mind popping that zit on the front?

Mazda, I suppose you think GE, Washington Mutual, Countrywide, and, until last week, all of the airlines should "go away" too. When huge companies are struggling, they don't just "go away." They adjust. Large manufacturing companies like GM have too much money invested in fixed costs to go out of business. It actually costs them more to go out of business than to stay in business and continually lose money. In the meantime, they provide jobs for many Americans. Let's not even discuss what impact it would have on the economy if GM and Chrysler "go away." GM et al bashers like yourself make my ass tired. You always seem to use one article on one vehicle that Toyota or Honda have had success with and run with it. GM would probably upset a lot of pickup truck lovers if they went out of business.

It's amazing that Toyota has been selling this car for more than a decade yet the Detroit companies can't get any significant traction with their renditions of a hybrid. If you want quality buy Japanese. If you want a rebate buy Ford or General Motors.

what does having a hybrid in a lineup have to do with quality?

Yech, the exterior looks like some funny mashed up version of the 09 Limited Rav4, the 09 Corolla, the 3-door Yaris hatchback, and the current Yaris.

The interior looks like it took some note on the Venza, and the steering wheel honestly looks like a hacked up Toyota version of the current Accord steering wheel.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this goes! It's a night, slight change to the current Prius...

Bowrider, this is where you are wrong. GM can go away "just like that," and so can Chrysler. You've to think modern, dude. NO COMPANY IS CONTROLLED BY ONE PERSON OR ONE SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE ANYMORE. GM is controlled not by any upper management or CEO, but regular folks around the world who has stocks/share of the company. The management can fold the company anytime they want; they don't care and it's of no harm to them (because they still get paid for folding the company). This is, of 'coz, "in the interest of our shareholder." Who are the ultimate losers? Shareholders and workers. But then, management won't care...

As for the Pirus design - sure many of us (incl me) will say that it's ugly (I say it's not futuristic enuf like the Insight). But do many of you know that the shape of hybrid vehicles - efficient ones - are bounded by the law of nature? To reduce wind drag, they HAVE TO have this shape only, with the long sliding back. Look @ Insight (old and new), EV1, etc. Same shape. What other cars need to reduce wind drag? Sport cars! They all have the same shape too! German, Italian, UK, Japanese - all the same. Now this may be to your surprise, but the old (or older) Honda Civics Hatchback, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris & Nissan Versa (both H/B) - the are not really design that give best efficiency in terms of wind drag, because all of them have the back drop more or less like 90 degree angle.

bowrider boy is too busy drinking the Chevy kool-aide to face the facts that Toyota is king. GM is in such poor condition that instead of buying lunch today I bought some shares. LOL

AR, I think you have a misconception of corporations. The only ones who can "fold" the company are the shareholders. But in many cases this is the company's management that owns the majority of the shares, so the point may be moot. But if those directors or officers work against the best interest of the company then they will most likely be subject to a lawsuit. The shareholders really only have the power to vote in or out directors, and it is those directors who make the day to day decisions of the company.

And while I think bowrider is right in regards that most large companies don't go away, it is not necessarily for the reasons he states. Sometimes it is just that they proceed through bankruptcy, buy-out or something similar.

I guess this vehicle is going to be 5 % faster and will give 5 % lesser mileage. In the future of rising gas prices, all that people want is higher gas mileage. Toyota is missing something. And certainly Honda Insight looks lot better.

If they dont price it correct, Insight could end up being the winner. What happened to the one they showed as the Prius concept. If that is going to come in 2010, then the Prius fans will certainly wait for that instead of buying this one.

Toyota is getting greedy by making vehicles bigger and heavier, they may fall into the trap that GM is in. No wonder, last month they suffered 30% drop in sales.

while the tacoma is indeed smaller than the tundra, the tacomas are huge and as big as some f-150's from not too long ago.

Toyota suffering a one month drop of 32% (to be exact) on top of record sales for the past five straight years makes it a non-issue. With the recent downturn GM is now worth 1/24th of what Toyota is. Besides lousy quality, I wouldn't buy a GM product due to their poor financial shape. They may not even exist two years from now and I'm not sure if anyone would miss them. For years my neighbors have been buying Nissan, Toyota and Honda instead of Ford, GM, and Chrysler.

You're looking at a modern classic - the '57 chevy of Hybrids. Toyota is so far ahead of the Honda Insight, it's pathetic. All Honda can do is copy the looks of the first generation Prius and hope enough people are fooled into buying into the laughable Integrated Motor Assist. The new Prius will be much faster and get better economy regardless of what type of battery it uses. And the current one is not slow - there's a few embarrassed A4 drivers who will attest to that. Honda's Insight might very well fail a second time because of this Prius upgrade. VW TDI? Adios, you're not needed here now.

Hybrit, I'm curious how an Audi A4 driver who can achieve a 0-60 time of 6.5-6.6 seconds would be embarrassed by a Prius that pulls a 0-60 time in over 10 seconds? Of course, I'm looking at 2008 models. In today's automotive market, a 10.4 second 0-60 is kind of slow.

For the record, I don't drink Kool-Aid. I do drink my fair share of beer and coffee, though. I don't really care who is the automotive "king" either. As long as competition results in better cars for you and me, consumers can choose what is best. I'll never understand why readers like Kevin Bonsal root for an auto manufacturer like they would a sports team. That makes me "laugh out loud." Send me your address, Kevin, and I will send you a Toyota Jersey bearing the number zero.

As far as fixed costs go, I am correct. Although a company may be purchased by another, it's because of their fixed costs that they don't go completely "under" before they are purchased. GM is buring through billions of dollars in cash per month. They need the cash that Chrysler still has on hand. That's why this merger will take place.

I wouldn't go as far as say that the prius is a classic, and there is absolutely no comparison between it and a 1957 Chevy. In fifty years no one will care what a prius is. They'll get junked when their batteries go bad.

GR, I'm not talking about magazine tests of V8 A4s, where they drop the clutch at 6,000 rpm, I'm talking about the real world of 1.8 liter A4s that appear to get tired from pulling around 3,800 pounds. My experience is that SOME of those cars are slow off the line. At the same time the Prius is quicker than the numbers you quote would indicate, because its electric motor has all its considerable torque available at 0 rpm and it steps off silently. I think the new Prius, with a 1.8 liter engine and a more powerful electric motor, and the ability of the two of them to work together will surprise quite a few people with its speed, and it must be fast because Lexus is offering a version of it. I understand the 2009 A4 four cylinder will have a lot more torque, and my comments don't apply to that car.