Toyota Prius+ (PriusPlus)

For the first six months of 2012, the Prius was third in the global sales chart, trailing only Ford’s Focus and Toyota’s Corolla. 

It’s been a meteoric rise for the Prius since it launched 15 years ago, and Toyota’s dominance of the hybrid market looks set to continue with the Prius+.

Toyota is keen to stress that this is a whole new vehicle from the ground up, not just a swollen version of the standard car. 

Measuring 155mm longer, 30mm wider and 85mm higher, with a wheelbase extended by 80mm, the Prius+ is substantially larger, but the overall look is familiar. The front end gets a much wider, lower grille with sharp corners either side to improve airflow, while a roof spoiler reduces drag at the rear. It’s the higher, elongated roof that catches your eye, though, giving the car a classic MPV silhouette. 

Toyota has capitalised on the extra interior space by cramming in three rows of seats, each mounted 45mm higher than the row in front, for a stadium view of the road ahead. Headroom and legroom are generous, even in the back row, which can comfortably fit a couple of adults. 

With all the seats occupied, there’s 200 litres of boot space. Fold the back row flat into the floor and that increases to 505 litres, and with the second row forward, there’s 1,750 litres to play with. An extra storage tray under the boot floor is handy, while the tailgate opening is 95mm wider than the Prius’, making larger objects easier to load.

An all-new dash design features a more upright centre stack, with a large rotary dial for controlling the air-conditioning, a trademark miniature gearlever and the electronic parking brake. The centre console is reserved for a cup-holder, storage bin and buttons for the three driving modes – EV, Eco and Power.

This is the first Prius model – besides the plug-in Prius, to use lithium-ion batteries, instead of a bulkier nickel-metal hydride pack. The switch isn’t just about saving weight, either – the batteries slot neatly under the centre console, between the driver and passenger, so there’s no compromise to interior space.

Prius+ compared to Prius size.

Besides the uprated batteries, the powertrain is identical to the smaller Prius’, and combines a 1.8-litre 98bhp petrol engine with an electric motor for a total of 134bhp. In T4 spec, it emits only 96g/km (better equipped T Spirit models emit 101g/km) – amazing, considering it weighs 75kg more than the standard Prius.

Toyota NS4

Here is our best look yet at the car some are describing as the next-generation Toyota Prius.

Toyota has officially denied that this car previews a successor to the popular hybrid, but the similarities between the two cars are clear.

This striking concept car is called the NS4 – and it has made its debut at the Detroit Motor Show.

Following the hydrogen fuel cell FCV-R concept, which we saw at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year, it previews both the styling direction and the petrol-electric technology of the company’s fourth-generation hybrid, which is due to go on sale in 2015.

The sleek design has been shaped to be as aerodynamic as possible. There are no wing mirrors, for example, just slender posts that contain rear view mounted cameras. The high definition picture they produce is displayed on an extra-wide panoramic screen that sits across the top of the NS4’s sleek dashboard.

The doors lift up and out as they open, just like they do with Aston Martin's Rapide, while there are new glass technologies that offer better heat insulation, and a clearer view of the road ahead. What's more the front and rear windscreens are covered in a hydrophobic coating that makes them resistant to rain and misting, and also improves the signal quality for electronic devices in the cabin.

Behind that distinctive new grille lies an advanced plug-in hybrid powertrain. There are no official figures or details for the petrol-electric system yet, but Toyota wants to exceed the efficiency of the current plug-in Prius, so expect 150mpg fuel economy (up from 135mpg) and 40g/km CO2 emissions (down from 49g/km).

The system will be lighter than that in the current Prius plug-in, but the batteries will have greater energy density. That means it will have a better electric-only range – this is likely to increase from 15 to 25 miles – but will still take 90 minutes to charge.

There’s no confirmation yet on what type of batteries the NS4 uses, but they’re most likely to be lithium-ion or zinc-air.

The cabin has an Internet-enabled iPad-style touchscreen in the centre console. This is used to control navigation, music and vehicle information systems.

Safety features include a next-generation crash-avoidance system, adaptive headlight beams so you don’t dazzle oncoming traffic and a blind spot warning system.

When Supercar get Superclash

TOKYO: (Malay translation) Memandu dengan laju dikatakan penyebab beberapa buah kereta mewah bernilai AS$4 juta (RM12.54 juta) musnah dalam satu kemalangan jalan raya di sini, semalam.

Lapan Ferrari dan sebuah Lamborghini serta sebuah Toyota Prius adalah antara kenderaan yang terlibat dalam kemalangan itu. 

Menurut beberapa saksi, ia berlaku apabila satu daripada kenderaan yang dipandu laju, tergelincir di atas permukaan jalan yang licin.

Rakaman televisyen menunjukkan beberapa buah Ferrari, remuk kebanyakannya berwarna merah dan serpihan kenderaan berada di atas jalan sepanjang 400 meter di lebuh raya Chugoku, jalan utama ke selatan Honshu. 

Sekumpulan 20 kereta mewah bergerak dalam konvoi semalam di atas lebuh raya yang basah apabila kereta Ferrari yang menjadi ketua konvoi itu tergelincir ke arah pagar jalan, kata polis.

Pemandu yang di belakang, terus menekan brek tetapi sudah terlewat.

“Saya tidak pernah lihat kejadian begini. 

“Jarang kereta Ferrari bergerak dalam satu konvoi besar,” kata peronda lebuh raya, Leftenan Eiichiro Kamitani.

Kamitani berkata, lima lelaki dan lima wanita, cedera ringan akibat kemalangan itu.

 “Mungkin mereka memandu secara berpasangan,” katanya. 

“Kemalangan ini mungkin disebabkan memandu dengan laju tetapi kami masih menyiasat punca sebenar,” tambahnya lagi.

Toyota Prius dan sebuah lagi Toyota turut terlibat dalam kemalangan yang menyebabkan 14 kereta remuk teruk tetapi dipercayai bukan ahli konvoi itu. 

Tiga lagi kenderaan yang terlibat dalam kemalangan itu adalah kenderaan jenis Mercedes-Benz.

Menurut seorang saksi, “Mereka memandu selaju 140 hingga160 kilometer sejam. Salah satu daripada kereta itu berpusing dan menyebabkan kemalangan.”

Had laju di lebuh raya itu 80 kilometer sejam.

Satu daripada kereta Ferrari yang remuk adalah jenis F430 Scuderia, yang boleh mencapai kelajuan 320 kilometer sejam.