Photo: al3x.blend / typerulez / Instagram
These days, automakers need to go to great lengths to snatch the spotlight and red carpet from Toyota – which has been sending out one novelty after another as if they're gearing up for an invasion of the automotive industry.
We have seen a lot of novelties from the Japanese automaker, even if we only refer to the North American market, where it swapped the smaller C-HR for the larger 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid, introduced an entire Corolla Nightshade family, treated families to the 2024 Grand Highlander three-row CUV, launched the 2024 Tacoma i-Force Max and Trailhunter superheroes, and even unleashed Gazoo Racing with a trio of special editions for the GR Corolla, GR86, and GR Supra. Oh, and has anyone seen the cool 2024 TX and great 2024 GX 550 from Lexus?
Alas, we should never forget about the subtler folks – and in Toyota's case, that would be the 2023 Prius 'Hybrid Reborn,' which has reached the fifth generation with lots of novelties from the refreshed yet iconic fastback design, plus significant tech improvements when speaking of the powertrains. Especially the 2023 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid merits our undivided attention thanks to 220 PHEV ponies hiding under the hood and a starting MSRP of $32,350 – not bad at all in this day and age of incredible inflation.
No worries, if no one is taking the Prius seriously in the real world, then the imaginative realm of digital car content creators is making sure that Toyota's iconic hybrid nameplate can never be unseen. So, this formerly tame 'Hybrid Reborn' Prius is a collaborative effort from typerulez and al3x.blend, two automotive CGI artists with very distinct styles. Pedro Guerreiro, a concept artist from Portugal, usually loves to dabble with ultra-extreme virtual creations. At the same time, Alexandre Gouraud is "just a guy with a computer" with a passion for setups that look like they were snatched right out of a dystopian cyberpunk-style future.
As such, in the end, are we really surprised that their Toyota Prius – with the body kit done by Guerreiro and all the "animation around this vehicle, all in the icy and dangerous environment, reinforcing the aggressiveness of the vehicle" handled by Gouraud – still looks like it just came out of a road trip on Hoth, the ice planet from Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back? And, in the end, there wasn't 'much' that needed to be done to gain that distinctive look: a thoroughly slammed atmosphere, an extreme widebody kit riddled with exposed carbon fiber bits and pieces, some nifty all-black aftermarket wheels, a massive wing at the back, and some skillfully modified LED front and rear lights!
The only thing we regret not knowing anything about is the powertrain. So we just decided to envision this project swapped with the 2024 Lexus TX 550h+ plug-in hybrid mill consisting of an electrified 3.5-liter V6 engine good for a combined output of 406 horsepower sent out through Direct4 AWD! That would be cool with more than double the horsepower of the 2023 Toyota Prius Prime in OEM form, right? Well, too bad it's just wishful thinking and probably no one will ever dare to recreate this aggressive style in the real world!
Alas, we should never forget about the subtler folks – and in Toyota's case, that would be the 2023 Prius 'Hybrid Reborn,' which has reached the fifth generation with lots of novelties from the refreshed yet iconic fastback design, plus significant tech improvements when speaking of the powertrains. Especially the 2023 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid merits our undivided attention thanks to 220 PHEV ponies hiding under the hood and a starting MSRP of $32,350 – not bad at all in this day and age of incredible inflation.
No worries, if no one is taking the Prius seriously in the real world, then the imaginative realm of digital car content creators is making sure that Toyota's iconic hybrid nameplate can never be unseen. So, this formerly tame 'Hybrid Reborn' Prius is a collaborative effort from typerulez and al3x.blend, two automotive CGI artists with very distinct styles. Pedro Guerreiro, a concept artist from Portugal, usually loves to dabble with ultra-extreme virtual creations. At the same time, Alexandre Gouraud is "just a guy with a computer" with a passion for setups that look like they were snatched right out of a dystopian cyberpunk-style future.
As such, in the end, are we really surprised that their Toyota Prius – with the body kit done by Guerreiro and all the "animation around this vehicle, all in the icy and dangerous environment, reinforcing the aggressiveness of the vehicle" handled by Gouraud – still looks like it just came out of a road trip on Hoth, the ice planet from Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back? And, in the end, there wasn't 'much' that needed to be done to gain that distinctive look: a thoroughly slammed atmosphere, an extreme widebody kit riddled with exposed carbon fiber bits and pieces, some nifty all-black aftermarket wheels, a massive wing at the back, and some skillfully modified LED front and rear lights!
The only thing we regret not knowing anything about is the powertrain. So we just decided to envision this project swapped with the 2024 Lexus TX 550h+ plug-in hybrid mill consisting of an electrified 3.5-liter V6 engine good for a combined output of 406 horsepower sent out through Direct4 AWD! That would be cool with more than double the horsepower of the 2023 Toyota Prius Prime in OEM form, right? Well, too bad it's just wishful thinking and probably no one will ever dare to recreate this aggressive style in the real world!
Google News