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Toyota Prius ‘Touring’ Morphs From Five-Door Liftback Into Executive Crossover SW

Ever since its inception, back in 1997, the Toyota Prius has always had a distinctive design – a styling trick to attract the attention of folks around its novel technical platform.
Toyota Prius Touring PHEV crossover station wagon rendering by theottle 16 photos
Photo: theottle / YouTube
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It was first a subcompact (until 2003), then a fully-fledged compact car, but no one could blame the Japanese hybrid car for adhering to the norm. Currently, it has settled into a five-door liftback lifestyle, and the quirkiness of the design has been recently interpreted for the all-new ‘Hybrid Reborn’ iteration quite successfully – according to many.

Alas, nothing is ever perfect. So, while in the real world we are still waiting for the first deliveries of the Prius HEV and Plug-in Hybrid (aka Prime in America), the alternative universe of the virtual automotive realm is bristling with ideas. As such, some digital artists have decided to take matters into their hands – or at the tip of their CGI brushes, as is the case here.

Some decided the new Prius would look better as a fully-fledged member of the GR family, others as a three-door liftback coupe (some even as a combined GR Prius Coupe), but of course, there were also digital voices that called for Toyota to allow its iconic Prius nameplate to join the tidal wave of crossover SUVs. Even the virtual artist better known as Theottle on social media, who has decided to CGI-rework the all-new, fifth-generation ‘Hybrid Reborn’ into something practical, seems to agree.

Albeit with a little twist, since his Toyota Prius ‘Touring’ crossover idea has more to do with the world of station wagons, actually. But allow the author to explain. He asked us to “remember the era when we had executive hatchbacks like Fiat Croma, Renault Vel Satis, Opel Signum, and Toyota Caldina?” So, while asking if this CGI idea of his, of a Prius Touring, would even qualify as a station wagon or MPV, he also advances the solution of fitting this into the odd crossover category alongside those extinct nameplates.

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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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