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This Toyota Prius Is Colored like a Running Shoe for a Purpose

You’d think that based on the new design of the recently released Toyota Prius, the Japanese wouldn’t feel the need to draw any more attention to this wedge-shaped oddity, but you’d be wrong. Partially, at least.
Toyota Prius with Thermo-Tect Lime Green paint 4 photos
Photo: Toyota
Toyota Prius with Thermo-Tect Lime Green paintToyota Prius with Thermo-Tect Lime Green paintToyota Prius with Thermo-Tect Lime Green paint
We can all agree that the new Prius is going to have the public split between those who admire its boldness and those who will cover their eyes and say “is it gone now? Can I look?” It’s a matter of taste, and not everybody is courageous enough to allow himself to be seen in something like this.

But if the beauty of a design is in the eye of the beholder, the retina-scratching abilities of a certain color aren’t. This lime green you see here is used for running and cycling gear for a purpose: those people try to signal their vulnerability and so attempt to make themselves as visible as possible. They don’t care about your retina, they only want to make sure you’ve seen them and you’ll go around them.

That principle would make sense in a car just as well, but if all motorized vehicles were to suddenly visit the paint shop and choose high-visibility colors, we would all probably just stop driving. So there has to be something else behind this controversial choice of color.

And since it’s the Toyota Prius we’re talking about, it’s no surprise it has to do with fuel efficiency. There isn’t a direct link, but the paint’s benefits are real and are actually even quantifiable. The paint is called “Thermo-Tect Lime Green” and, as the name suggests, has something to do with heat.

By removing the carbon black particles usually found in paint and replacing them with tiny reflective titanium oxide particles, Toyota managed to turn a colored paint into a heat blocker that’s just as efficient as the bland white finish. Which, if we’re to be honest, the more we look at the Thermo-Tect Lime Green Prius, the more we start to miss.

The importance of the car’s paint color in relation to the temperature inside on a hot summer day is a well-known fact, and fewer degrees inside mean less strain on the air conditioning unit, which in turn translates to a lower fuel consumption. It’s a bit complicated, but if it gets the job done, nobody’s complaining. Well, apart from everyone outside the car with direct line of sight.

A mere $350 will get you this new paint, but only if you order your car from Japan as Toyota’s domestic market is the only one where it’s available for now. There’s no word on whether the same technique can be applied to other hues, but you’d think that if it were possible, they would have done it already and not gone for this lime green from hell.

The low cost suggests production isn’t an issue, but Wired does say that Toyota encountered some difficulties along the way, most notably striking a balance between the paint’s thermo-reflecting capability and its durability over time. But the Japanese manufacturer says it’s taken care of now, yet it doesn’t explain why it’s not available anywhere outside Japan. The JDM will most likely act as a testing ground, so we should expect to see Thermo-Tect paints adorning other Toyota models soon.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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