Presented late in 2022 but introduced in most markets last year, the XW60 Toyota Prius was a 'Hybrid Reborn' that harnesses the entire experience of its four ancestors to morph into the best electrified vehicle possible. And the popularity followed, along with the accolades.
Toyota sold over 2.24 million automobiles in America alone last year and ultimately kept its laurels as the worldwide best-selling automaker with flying colors – over 11 million vehicles against 9 million something from Volkswagen AG. In fact, Toyota and Lexus alone could beat VW AG's numerous brands and subsidiaries.
A big part of the equation wasn't EVs, of course, but rather ICE-powered and hybrid vehicles. Naturally, the fifth-generation Prius took its lion's share, and it's a hit with customers and critics alike. In fact, it just won the prestigious North American Car of the Year award and is also on the WCOTY accolade shortlist. In America, the 2024 Prius can be had from $28k in LE, XLE, and Limited trim (with or without AWD) or from $33k as the plug-in hybrid Prius Prime with 220 horsepower and SE, XSE, or XSE Premium grades. What you can't have, unfortunately, is a different body style – you're stuck with the traditional five-door liftback option.
However, that is not necessarily an issue for everyone. For example, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has decided that Toyota's Hybrid Reborn Prius deserves better. More precisely, Vishnu Suresh, the self-taught concept artist behind the zephyr_designz moniker on social media, has been hard at work re-envisioning that extreme Prius of his once again. It all started months ago when the pixel master decided to give us a hardcore dream of a deeply-tuned hybrid from Toyota.
The resulting Prius was a veritable show of force in lime green, white, or Black Edition guises. Then he also transformed it into yellow stuff – including a Taxi version. They all shared the same characteristics: a slammed attitude, all-black aftermarket wheels (of various designs), plus lots and lots of aerodynamic additions, some exposed carbon fiber, and an excellent widebody kit! Now, this is not the first time the CGI expert morphs the hardcore Prius into a three-door, no sir.
Only this time, his Shooting Brake 3D Concept has been refined to perfection (note the new hexagonal exhaust tips or the stylized wing adorning the liftgate), and he now truly feels ready for the green light of production and to adopt the GR logos. If that ever happened, it would proudly stand alongside the GR Yaris as a three-door model, and perhaps it's not such a bad idea for America, for example – it would represent an electrified alternative to the five-door GR Corolla without intruding on its territory.
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. Full profile
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