On the floor of the Geneva Auto Show, the Prii (the term is used to describe the plural of Prius) are led to war by the Prius+ MPV, the first full-hybrid seven-seater to be made available in Europe. The vehicle will be offered, starting 2012, with three, independent, split/folding second row seats and a 50:50 split/folding third tier.
But this is probably not the real news surrounding the model. Until the Prius+, all hybrid versions of the Prius used nickel-metal hydride batteries. Now, that is about to change, as the car maker will be introducing on the MPV its first implementation of a lithium-ion configuration, at the same time the first use of such a system on a non-plug-in Toyota full hybrid.
The engineers behind the model took advantage of the increased size of the model and fitted the batteries underneath the center console, between the driver and the front passenger.
The model can be convinced to operate by pressing a button in one of three driving modes, EV, Eco and
Power. Unfortunately for those waiting to see some fuel consumption figures to go with the model, none are available at the moment.
The only promise made by Toyota when introducing the model in Geneva was that the Prius+ will offer the lowest fuel consumption figure of any MPV currently on the market.
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