"The Highlander hybrid and Camry hybrid do OK, but calling it ‘Synergy Drive' never resonated with consumers,” Toyota dealer Earl Stewart was quoted as saying by Autonews. “But they can make hay on the Prius name. It's a magic name. If somebody says ‘I drive a Prius,' everybody knows what he means.”
The matter was brought to the attention of the company's CEO Yoshi Inaba for the first time, despite the fact that Toyota's COO Jim Lentz is calling for the use of the Prius name for several other hybrids for almost a year. Still naming an entire range Prius will not mean it will become a sub-brand, like Scion.
Creating a separate, unified badge for the hybrid line-up would be the right move for Toyota, as the manufacturer only announced it has surpassed the 2 million hybrid unit sold threshold. Some 20 percent of the sold hybrids can be found in Europe alone. Today, Toyota is currently selling 13 hybrid models in 50 countries and regions across the world, including three commercial vehicle models in Japan.
In the near future, an extra ten hybrid models are being planned, including the Auris hybrid. The manufacturer stated their goal of launching a hybrid version of every model by 2020 and bring the segment a 1 million units/year.
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