There's a difference between Toyota and everybody else. Mercedes, Volkswagen and the lot of them are making greener cars because they want to. But Toyota does it because it wants to.
Hybrids fit the Japanese car company down to a T. If you open up the German website of the car manufacturer, you'll notice about half the models are hybrids. They start with the Yaris and work their way up to the RAV4.
The full-scale invasion of the 2016 Prius hasn't really happened in Europe yet. There, you can still buy the old model as either the Prius+ or the Plug-in Hybrid. Also, here is one car that you can buy there and not in Japan, which is the Auris Touring Sports Hybrid.
The other one, the regular hatchback, has become available. Due to popular demand, the Japanese automaker has decided its local customers deserve to try an Auris Hybrid and see how it compares to the Prius. It's never going to be as popular, yet that's part of the appeal.
About 200,000 Prius units are sold there each year, so have something that looks a little different is a blessing. Of course, the Japanese just couldn't resist adding a bit of local flair, which comes in the form of the BrickLane special edition, seen here with a white body and chequer accents. The roof is matte black, and a chromed license plate surround has been added, two features we could have done without.
The interior is a nice mix of black and white, which can also be seen on the faux leather seats. What's weird is that the navigation system in being retrofitted by the dealer with a domestic unit. Toyota is known for its shoddy interior build quality, but this Auris is a cut above, on par with the best German cars in the segment.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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