2009 Toyota Prius coming to Melbourne Motor Show
February 3, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
We are set to get our first look at the new Toyota Prius at the Melbourne International Motor Show this month with Australia becoming the second country to get an official glimpse of the new hybrid
The third generation hybrid will have more competition than ever, not only from long-time rival Honda but from a whole set of new hybrid vehicles expected to flood the market in the next few years.
To give credit where credit is due, Toyota has been the golden arch of hybrid cars and the latest Prius now offers even better fuel economy and ultra-low emissions.
So far the’ big T’ has sold found 1.2 million buyers for the Prius, of which 12,000 are in Australia.
Toyota Australia’s senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner believes the reason the Prius is coming to Australia second only to the United States is an indication of how important Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive technology is in Australia.
“It is a real coup to be able to show the new Prius at Melbourne, well ahead of its local launch early in the second half of this year,” Mr Buttner said.
The new Prius will be one of many new hybrid models unveiled by the Toyota/Lexus group in the next few years. Reports suggest Lexus will launch its own version of the Prius with a bigger motor and upgraded luxury, a logical process given the popularity of luxury hybrid cars.
“Early next year, Toyota will become the first local manufacturer to produce a hybrid vehicle when we release the hybrid Camry from our Altona plant in Melbourne’s west.” Mr Buttner said.
You can find out more on the new Prius here.
Although using a now larger 1.8-litre engine compared with the current car’s 1.5-litre engine, not only has performance increased, but fuel economy has improved by about 10 percent.
As for the looks, the Prius is undoubtedly keeping to its tradition, although as Toyota says, it’s now sharper, sportier and more aerodynamic – in fact it’s so aerodynamic that the company claims it has the best aerodynamic profile of any mass-produced vehicle in the world.
Print it: 
*****PRIMO!*****
Looking foward to chewing-the-fat with you guys from C/A at the MMS on the press-only day.
Should be GREAT!
Cheers,
F-0
LOVE how u guys use BIG-T! [Its a F-0 tm.!]
Can BIG-T stop haonda from copying/cloning its design?,They are THE world leaders of copying.
What happened to the 100MPG target, looks a bit underdone and rushed to market if you ask me.
Maybe S4 Prius will reach the 100MPG’s as rumoured?
Cheers,
F-0
I think the Prius will be some what over shadowed with all the talk of EV’s hitting Australian shores soon. I can’t believe Big-T has been caught napping on the issue, given the PHV version only manages 16KM range on the battery!
In my opinion the Toyoda Priass has become a complete waste of energy and space, big T stands for TeRD.
STILL LOOKS VERY VERY UGLY, ESPECIALLY THE FRONT END EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, TOYODA ARE KING’S OF WHITEGOOD CRAP.
Okay, someone needs to do a bash Toyota. :-)
Seriously 12000 cars sold down under since it’s release (with more than 75% going to Govco) I wonder why they think it is such a big thing??? Or is it just purely the marketing milage??
and somewhat questionable resale value as well,frontman…
God, it looks even uglier than the current one….
oh great…i thought the motorshow was gonna be good i mean i booked a whole trip down there for it! seeing theres no sydney show this year
Oh man, you’ve got to love the passion the Prius stirs up on this site. You have to give Toyota credit where its due. They have managed to sell this relatively new & risky technology to the masses.
But its time for the synergy drive to take one between the eyeballs and Toyota need to give us a proper EV to compare with the competition.
“FAST FPV”:- “EWWWWW..” is the domain of retarded American teenage girls. No serious car loving bloke should ever be heard uttering such a word!
This has just essentially been a “Green Halo” car for the toyota brand.
Even though its certainly nothing great in terms of value nor its efficiency, the word “Electric” features in its abiliy immediately putting an enviromentally friendly tag to it, which is then a tag that is related to all toyotas.
The prius has been more of a valuable (false) marketing tool to toyota than anything else
If Toyota Australia didn’t have such limited supply a lot more would have found homes then the 12,000 quoted – people are prepared to take any colour just to get their hands on one.
I think it looks a far more complete package then the current generation – just don’t expect a bargain.
Would honestly contemplate one, proof would be in the pudding (i.e. test drive). 20 years down the track I think this car will make a lot more sense – it is a bit of a stretch for displacement-fiends (aka rev-heads) to understand this kind of car, even in its third iteration – I guess that’s the price Toyota pays for having gone there first.
Frugal One, what do you men “Big T” is a Frugal One trademark? I’ve heard Toyota refered to as the Big T on many other car websites and in many other car magazines over the last twenty years! And what do you mean Honda are the world leaders in copying? What was the S2000 copied from then? The Accord Euro? The Civic? The Jazz? The CR-V? The FR-V? The NSX? The Legend? In fact, the new Insight is the only Honda I can think of that does resemble another brands car and that’s only really because of aerodynamics and the fact that people associate that shape with “hybrid” and “green” now.
Toyota, taking the Prius from country to country isn’t really all that green is it? The Prius story still has an uncountable amount of holes in it…
Grammar Nazi, it’s not about rev-heads not understanding it, it’s about greenies not understanding it. For a start, there are plenty out there who will but a new one because it’s greener than the old and they want to be as kind as possible to the environment not taking into consideration how much Co2 it takes to build and ship a car. There’s the fact that if I got one shipped to the UK, It would be greener to run my Range Rover for about 150,000 miles because it was built there (and that’s not theory, that’s fact. There have been tests). And of course, there’s the old nickel in the battery problems.
What a lazy-bone comment, how do you know if I’m a bloke, don’t guess what gender I am, your tendencies maybe bi or gay, saying “You have to give Toyota credit where its due” hmmmmmmmm what a load of $ h i t. they deserve the tag MASTERS OF FLEET SELLING… Full Stop..
Soon to be broadcasted toyoda sales have dropped more than anyone last month, guess why, Mining companies are laying of workers, other fleet car buyer’s who would unfortunately pick Toyoda have no job or government hand-out to pay for it…
I sense the flood gates are open for another round of Toyota bashing.
Ready, set, GO!
FAST FPV GT-E: Quote “MASTERS OF FLEET SELLING…”
What is your souped up taxi then? Commodore + Falcon = Kings of Fleets.
Fast FPV – While Toyota remained No.1 in Oz, Ford got eclipsed by Mazda … Ooooch !!
As per FCAI statistics for 2008 :
Holden sold 51 000 Commodore’s
* 13 000 private sales
* 38 000 fleet sales
Toyota sold 47 000 Corolla’s
* 24 000 private sales
* 23 000 fleet sales
Ugly, boring and over priced…I will keep my XR6T thanks, nothing more to say!!!
Ford/Mazda, Build Much Better Cars Than Boring Whitegood Toyoda..
Rob,
its a little slow out of the block this one,
by the time i find the “ring”, there is usually 100 or so comments/punches already thrown
the reason i hate the prius so much is because it was always just a technology showcase. its like when they were designing thats the only ting that mattered…everything else on the car is just so lacklustre that the technology is the only recognisable thing on the whole car. hopefully the new one changes that a little bit (well for toyota anyway), but still i’d prefer a much nicer new honda insight or FCX clarity or even the GM volt range when it comes out!
“how do you know if I’m a bloke”, Oh I wonder??
Bloke, just trying to help you out. How its going to look pulling up in an FPV as saying “EWWWWWW”. Do yourself a favour and cut down on your disney channel intake, and stop being a wanna-be yank.
Yes credit where its due, I’m no Prius fan. But they have sold over a million and proved the concept. All this from the Big whiTe fridge company. Now others are following and even overtaking.
“MASTERS OF FLEET SELLING”
Which one of the big aussie 3 isn’t propped up by fleet sales?
“toyoda sales have dropped more than anyone last month”
But still sold more than anyone else…
VFACTS DEC 2008 Figures
Ford 7499, down 1478 (-16.5%)
Holden 10848, up 384 (+3.7%)
Toyota 18999, down 1614 (-7.8%)
For the critics… and bashers.
Why?
The Prius isnt supposed to go 0-100 in 5 seconds.
Its not supposed to get your addrenaline pumping when you drive it.
Its not suppose to allow you to do wheel spins or fish tails off a corner…
Its not even suppose to go fast…
Its a commute vehicle.. A to B… a green car.
So the guy(s) who like Ford Turbos and other sports car enthusiasts… just be gone from this thread…
Its not for you…
FAST FPV GT-E, yes the front end is ugly, they should have put big black racoon eyes on it.
lol
Grammar Nazi Says:
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Actually I find it surprising you make that remark, as I happen to know of several ex Hertz Priuses that are looking for homes right now and are being walked straight past by the public. Also I know of several Toyota dealerships that sell 1 Prius retail to every 50 going to Govco & Rental. This is why I made the comment above.
Ford Drowned By Mazda Says:
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Would it be possible for you to supply the link to the page with that info on it as I would find the break up very handy and have never been able to navigate to that section of the FCAI website. Also when enquiring directly to them I get very vague (to say the least) responses on the break-up. Something on they only report Vfacts..
Thanking you in advance.
P.S. Do you know if it also includes those vehicles sold via novated/ salary sacrifice leasing and those vehicles by companies that don’t do fleet but seem to have a lot of Renter cars out there??
James, maybe you own one? My point was its only the tech combination that gets the Prius its brownie points. There is simply nothing else that its a worthy mention. Of course, you owning one would definitely change that but for all the people who think the world isn’t going to end tomorrow, the Prius is simply a mediocre car. Sorry, but its true!
Handling is soggy, interior is of not good quality and looks daggy, boot isnt very big, looks like soggy weetbix (though the new one is alright…) and is waaaay too expensive! 37k for a base one with no toys? No thanks!!!! I’ll take my Skoda Octavia RS (for the same price!!!)
and go for a good drive thanks!