Toyota has unveiled its latest Prius model in Britain.
The car giant is revealing the vehicle at events around the country, including the Brighton to London Revolve Eco-Rally and a stint on show at the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham.
From there the car is set to travel to Manchester’s Trafford Centre before heading to Bluewater in Kent.
The new Prius is available to buy on August 1st.
How is the new Prius different?
Toyota has unveiled the new third-generation Prius – a more powerful, luxurious and roomy version of the current model, which it hopes will buck the downward trend in the global car market by taking hybrid technology to a new segment of the market.
The Prius is the best-selling hybrid in the world, but in America it is often bought by households as a second car. Toyota hopes to find new customers by giving the Prius III more space and greater refinement.
Prius III features solar panels
The new Prius boasts new styling and what Toyota claims is the “cleanest aerodynamic profile of any mass-produced vehicle in the world”. The car’s new slippery lines help it return a claimed 72.4mpg – an improvement on the claimed 65.7mpg of the current model.
Drivers can choose between ‘EV-Drive mode’, which allows the car to be driven on battery power alone for about a mile, ‘power mode’, which gives the car a sportier feel or ‘eco mode’ to deliver maximum fuel efficiency.
One of the features on the long options list is a bank of roof-mounted solar panels that power a new battery-powered ventilation system to cool down the car after it has been parked in the sun.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Toyota has develpoed the Prius at the right time as it faces stiff competition from the rival Honda Insight hybrid.”
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