Toyota to launch new hybrid?

Toyota has announced plans to produce a new hybrid car which is more fuel efficient than the Prius. The city car-sized vehicle is expected to achieve a fuel economy of about 85mpg.

Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, reports that the firm will launch a hybrid based on the Toyota Viz, a model known in Britain as the Yaris.

The car is expected to go on sale in 2011 at a cost of around £9,500.

Better than a Prius?

The Yaris-sized hybrid will be more efficient than the Prius, but it smaller and is unlikely to be as luxurious.

It is hoped that the new third-generation Prius – a more powerful, luxurious and roomy version of the current model, will buck the downward trend in the global car market by taking hybrid technology to a new segment of the market.

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.