New High-Occupancy-Vehicle Lane Rules May Boost Prius Plug-In Sales in California

The new Prius plug-in will be available in the US early next year and will cost $32,780 –or $8,500 more than the non-plug-in version of Toyota’s hybrid. That’s quite a remarkable price difference even if you include the $2,500 tax incentive and, for some, a deterrent in buying the plug-in hybrid.

However, as it turns out though, the State of California may have unintentionally helped Toyota sell more of its new plug-in hybrid model. That’s because two months ago, it changed the rules for High-Occupancy-Vehicle (H.O.V.) lanes, and specifically which single-passenger occupied models were allowed to use them.

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Toyota Says New Prius Plug-in Hybrid will Cost Under £31,000 in Britain

After Toyota's U.S. arm came out with pricing details on the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid, the firm's British division is next in line to inform buyers what they're going to pay for the car when it goes on sale in Britain in the first half of 2012.

However, instead of giving a exact price tag, Toyota UK said the plug-in version of the Prius will "cost less than £31,000" before any government incentives, which can reduce the price to customer by up to £5,000, or under £26,000.

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Toyota Introduces New Prius Family with a Bizarre Commercial [Video]

Coinciding with the announcement on pricing for the new 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid that will launch next spring and the new Prius V minivan that is set to go on sale this October, Toyota has unleashed a new campaign to promote the growing family of Prius models.

The new TV spot is named "People Person" and it was created by advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi.

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Toyota to Build Hybrid Drivetrains Outside of Japan in Four Years

Toyota has chosen to focus most of its resources on its hybrid models, and more specifically on the Prius “family” and Lexus lineup, in order to recover from this year’s earthquake and the subsequent, and quite substantial, decrease in global sales due to parts shortages.

Until now, Toyota manufactured all components of hybrid drivetrains, such as battery packs, electric motors and inverters only at its Japanese plants. The recent disaster has shown the vulnerability of the decision to put all of your eggs in one basket.

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Toyota Prices New 2012 Prius Plug-in from $32,760 and Prius V Minivan from $27,160

Toyota has released the full rundown on the pricing of the upcoming 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid and the five-passenger Prius V minivan.

The first-ever Prius Plug-in Hybrid, which combines the firm’s Hybrid Synergy Drive with a small lithium-ion battery to extend the electric-only driving range, starts at $32,000 not including a $760 processing and handling (DPH) fee that raises the price to $32,760, while the better equipped Advance trim model will have an MSRP of $39,525 or $40,285 with DPH.

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Facelifted 2012 Toyota Prius Quietly Makes World Premiere in Frankfurt

We're wrapping up the first press day of the 64th International Auto Show in Frankfurt, but not before we bring you one final unveiling that flew under the radar for most of the event.

We're talking about the 2012 Toyota Prius facelift that made its world premiere in Germany today. The changes on Toyota's updated hybrid include minor tweaks to its exterior and interior design, and the introduction of a fresh assortment of multimedia systems.

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Toyota Focuses Recovery Efforts on Prius Hybrid Family

The March 11 earthquake that shook Japan to its core had many collateral damages, one of which was vehicle manufacturing. For example, more than 650 of Toyota’s suppliers suffered great damages and halted production, forcing the Japanese automaker to reconsider its strategy.

Two weeks later, its management had reached the conclusion that it should focus its worldwide resources mainly on one model line. “We were rapidly burning through cash, so in order to survive this we prioritized the cars our customers wanted most” explained head of production Atsushi Niimi.

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Britons Vote Ford Mustang as the World’s Manliest Car

Bluebeards Revenge is a UK brand of shaving cream and post-shave balm scientifically proven by Science™ [sic…] to reduce beard growth- or so it says on their webpage. The brand recently conducted an email poll of 1,835 Britons, asking them to rate the world’s “manliest” and “least manly” cars.

The results are in, and –drumbeat please- the winner is the Ford Mustang that was found to be the “manliest car on the planet” with a net total of 21% of the vote.

Runners up were the Aston Martin DB7 (15%), Range Rover (13%), Dodge Viper (11%) and Hummer H1 (10%). On the opposite end of the spectrum – the world’s “least manly” cars – were the Volkswagen Beetle (31%), Mazda Miata / MX-5 (20%), Ford Ka (11%), Toyota Prius (9%) and Nissan Cube (8%).

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