Rumour: Toyota To Work With Either Pininfarina or Italdesign on New Prius Coupe
August 27, 2009
The 3rd generation Toyota Prius has just seen Malaysian roads for slightly over a month now but there are already plans for a Coupe model which will probably never make it here considering how our local car importers seem to loathe the idea of providing a coupe, favouring the more sell-able and practical four door. But we can still dream can’t we. A well-priced Prius Coupe would be something hard to ignore, especially one that has been designed by either Pininfarina or Italdesign.
That’s right, Toyota is actually considering commissioning the Italian design houses to come up with the styling for the new model. That is one strong selling point already but the strongest point lays under the hood.
Power would likely be provided by the same Prius 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine with Synergy Drive found on the standard model. And while the engine’s 98hp and 142Nm of torque isn’t exactly sporty, the coupe would most likely hit home the Prius’ strongest selling point – fuel economy. If the reports are to be believed, the Prius Coupe would be capable of such impressive fuel economy as the rumoured 77km per every 4-liters of petrol. Mix that in with some irresistible Italian design and you have a winning formula.
If the new Coupe does make it to production, it would compete directly with Honda’s recently confirmed CR-Z hybrid which will be launched in Japan in February of 2010.
Source: WorldCarFans
Hopefully this will help Toyota out of their old man design concept.