4th Generation Prius Boasts High Mileage of 40.8 k/l

Toyota launched December 9 4th Generation Prius with a gas mileage of impressive 40.8 Km/l - 20% over the current model. Prius' 1st generation model was marketed in 1997 as the world's first production model hybrid vehicle. Each generation came out totally innovated with fresh motors, batteries and refined designs for less air resistance. This episode traces the history of Prius - the pioneer of Eco-Car Age.  

Prius evolved as its gas mileage improved; the latest model boasts  an astounding mileage of 40.8 Km/l. Almost a lone runner in the hybrid vehicle sector of the car industry, Toyota, however, is now amidst a stiff global eco-car rivalry while gas price continues to dwindle.

Toyota launched a hybrid vehicle in 1997, a light-weight, fuel- efficient model in 2003, uplifted engine displacement from 1500 to 1800 cc to improve fuel efficiency at high-speed cruising, and now in 2015 surmounted the cliff of 40 Km/l. Toyota has acquired a range of technology applicable to other HVs.

Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada recalls:

"We were not all that confident that our customers would respond to saving energy, not at all".

However, data show they have responded. Toyota sold 5 million HVs this summer. The latest figures show HVs account for over 40% of their total domestic sales. Toyota looks for total annual sales of HVs in the range of 1.5 million, or 20% over the year 2014.

That said, the environment is fast changing. The Tokyo Motor Show in October was a stage of plug-in hybrid models chargeable at domestic power source. Low gas price is a contrary wind. The price gap between HVs and conventional gasoline cars is 300-400 thousand yen. The more the gas price drops, the more time it takes to collect investment.

Koji Toyoshima in charge of 4th general model Prius comments:

"Fuel efficiency, yes, but we've paid equal attention to cruising performance to uplift charms of the new model".