*BIG UPDATE* The All-New 2023 Toyota Prius will have INCREDIBLE power and EV range...

Toyota Prius is either an object of hate or admiration. After four generations, Prius sales here stateside have all but vanished due to the full hybridization of the Toyota lineup and of course the advent of battery electric vehicles. Earlier this year we had some breathtaking news from Japan on the all-new fifth generation Prius, but Japan cannot stop talking about this new vehicle. So today we're going to go over the new details of the 2023 Toyota Prius. Over at BestCarWeb, the best source for Japanese cars essentially, they give us the most accurate renders, the most accurate information about vehicles coming out in the near future. So here we are with the Toyota Prius. They're saying potentially December 2022 and what will happen the next gen Prius, Prius Prime. We got a lot to talk about. Just to recap though, we want to look at the images. So this image is also coming from BestCar. I think this is an older image, but they updated it with this red model here, which I think is the most accurate. I think the new Prius will look pretty close to this. We have a little door handle, a la CHR, right? And we also have these unique kind of lobster claw headlights, which look much better in this sort of design than like previous designs with Honda as well as Subaru on those taillights. So new Prius looking sick with the big wheels. And then looking at the back image, it's definitely more aggressive, more cleaned up though at the same time. Gosh, when the 2016 Prius came out, the rear end was a complete circus. This looks a lot cleaner, a lot more professional. And we have that line coming from the mid passenger front door that kind of goes up and kind of almost flows into this bumper line behind the rear wheel. They're saying this new model will adapt a newly developed version of the TNJ platform. In 2016, when the fourth gen Prius came out, it debuted on the TNJ platform, first vehicle ever. It was the C platform variant. And so I think this new Prius will take that C platform to the next level, kind of give it a version 2.0. So the big talk today, guys, will be powertrain. So make sure you have your snacks and drinks, because we'll head on over to the spreadsheet afterwards when we finish this article to break down the powertrain options coming for the new Prius and Prius Prime. The power unit hybrid improved 1.8 liter, we have a new one, we have a new lithium ion battery to accompany it. It's no different than what we see in the new Corolla hybrid coming this fall. And guys, I will be driving it next month in October, I will be getting into that Toyota event in Nashville to drive the Corolla hybrid, the Corolla cross hybrid, the new Highlander turbo as well as the Toyota crown, the whole new crown with both hybrids, the hybrid max and then the standard hybrid of that model as well. So definitely stay tuned, because I will give you all that information. So this 1.8 liter will be better than ever before. So more efficient base Prius, but they're saying the plug in hybrid, which will come out or be set at the same time potentially, is a newly developed two liter, a bigger engine here. And they're saying development is underway to extend the cruising range to 100 km. When translate that miles at 62 miles, what does that mean? That's the electric driving range. Currently electric driving range is 25 miles. So in theory, they're more than doubling it. We'll talk more about this later. And the second paragraph is saying how the plug in hybrid kind of was in the background of the Toyota hybrid system of the previous generation Prius Prime, but the new Prius Prime, the electrification side is going to play a much bigger role. So you're going to have more electric power, more electric range than ever before. We have dimensions here. And the most telling thing is that the overall length is down. The height is down as well. So it's a shorter vehicle. And the wheelbase is extended by 50 millimeters to improve driving stability. This paragraph is talking about initially the 1.8 liter hybrid will debut, but eventually it'll all switch over to the two liters. So you'll have the base two liter hybrid, and then you'll have the two liter plug in hybrid prime. But for some reason, they want to see how things go with the two liter and the plug in hybrid first, which is a bit strange because they've been using the two liter for a gosh, what since 2018, when the Lexus UX came out, they've been using this hybrid system for a while. So I don't know why they feel like they need to launch with a 1.8 feel like the two liter, at least here in America, they can launch with the two liter base hybrid, it would give people a good reason to upgrade over the Corolla. But you know, the only reason upgrade over the Corolla at this point is to get that hatchback usability because the Corolla hybrid now has the same system, but also is going to have all wheel drive for the first time ever for a Corolla hybrid. It's pretty cool. They said until now, the Prius hybrid, the normal hybrid and the plug in hybrid slash prime have been developed separately as separate models. And it makes sense when you look at the Prius and Prius prime, they look very, very, very different. The headlights, the bumpers, even the rear windshield has a bubble on on the plug in prime, which doesn't happen on the normal Prius. So they look extremely different. But they're saying now that they're being developed under the same project, they will look the same. The only thing that will change on the Prius prime now, it'll have different badges kind of like how the RAV4 prime has prime badges where the normal RAV hybrid doesn't. They wanted to point out that going to the two liter makes sense because it gives more power to should compete better with Honda's new hybrid system as well with the two liter setup, which the new Civic will have. But we don't have it yet. The new Civic hybrid is available in Europe right now, but we will probably get it late 2023 would be my guess. Now I wanted to talk about the interior of the Prius because I think this is where it's going to get better in all regards. What we're looking at here is the interior of the new crown. The crown is a pretty upscale interior kind of like the Venza is right. So I'm expecting the Prius to in order for it to differentiate itself from the Corolla, it needs to have not only a more aggressive design and powertrains, which it will, but it needs to have a nicer upscale interior. So I think they're going to get away from that ridiculous tablet style vertical touchscreen on the prime. And they're going to give us a more traditional layout. So just looking at the the good old crown here, which I will be driving, like I said, stay tuned for that. I think it'll be similar to this. I think we'll have a high quality steering wheel with hopefully physical buttons, we could have a head up display. Well, I know we'll have a head up display. And if they do that, they might have customizable but customizable buttons like we see in the new Lexus products as well. So you know, I would love to see an interior that's simple, functional, like we have here, a normal 12 inch touchscreen, which would be awesome on the Prius a fully digital MID behind the steering wheel, that would be real nice. That's probably more of a Prius prime feature, a fully digital screen back here, at least a huge one, maybe the base Prius has a seven inch screen or something like that. A more traditional drive knob here would be great. And then you have your climate control as well. So fingers crossed the new Prius looks on the interior very similar to this very upscale feeling very premium feeling I think it they it could really use that to differentiate itself like I said in the product stack that Toyota has already. So I wanted to talk about powertrains and break it down on the spreadsheet to make it a little bit easier for you. So currently in the Prius, this is what we have 121 horsepower. You can either get it with a lithium ion battery or nickel metal hydride battery. So what we're doing though, is we're upgrading this 1.8 liter to a new fifth generation hybrid technology. And so we get a 70 more horsepower, instant bump right there in power, but also efficiency. This has an all new am I on battery, and it is going to help with the efficiency, of course, as well as the power output. We have this in the new Corolla, we'd have it in the new boxy and Noah, which are our minivans in Japan, mind you know, what they're saying is eventually this two liter m 28 f xs setup will replace it. And that will have 181 horsepower base. What I would like to see is this engine come in standard here in the United States for the new Prius 181 horsepower in the Prius, that would be a, that's a massive jump what we have even with this new updated system on the Corolla. So Toyota, if you're listening, this is what I want to see here. And Japan can keep the 1.8 liter for a while. But the prime stuff is where it gets pretty exciting guys, because we're hearing 100 kilometers of range or about 50 miles after conversions. That's insane. How can that happen? Well, I'm not going to get my hopes up that high. I think that's a little outlandish still. So let's look at the base prime that we have right now, the old outgoing model front wheel drive only 8.8 kilowatt battery, 25 miles of electric range. And if you are a Prius prime owner, you might be saying correct, I can get way over that. And that's true. I know a lot of Prius prime owners out there can get four and a half five miles per kilowatt hour out of that prime setup. So it's not a stretch to say that when we go to the two liter, and in theory, we get a bigger battery that we could get a ton more range, right? And we're new hybrid setup. So the new hybrid systems will be a lot more efficient as well. So this is a perfect scenario right here for Prius prime. I think it's overkill. I don't think it's going to happen, but this is the perfect Prius prime for a lot of people. All wheel drive, big battery pack, 250 horsepower. You know, I'm not like the, how did I get 250 horsepower? Well, I just, I added from the base two liter hybrid setup, the amount of the power jump that we see from the normal RAV4 to the RAV4 prime, which is quite massive. So I'm putting this power bump on this powertrain to get that 250 horsepower. Don't think it's likely, but they could do it if they wanted to. The, the right hand side is more likely because it's more conservative and know how conservative Toyota is as a company, but you know what the RAV4 prime was anything but conservative. So why wouldn't they want to give the Prius everything they can because Prius, you know, started this whole hybrid thing for them. We'll see. But I think this one on the right is, is going to temper our expectations down a bit. So we still have the two liter, but around 200 horsepower front wheel drive, only slightly larger battery pack, but we'll have still over 40 miles of electric range. So which of these two hybrid setups that I have here, do you think is most likely to be in the new Prius prime? Which one do you want more? I mean, who would want more range and power? It would cost more as well in theory, but I'm going to end it there. Are you guys excited for the Prius? This should be the best Prius, most exciting Prius ever, most efficient Prius, best looking Prius. Well, that's subjective, but I think it will look pretty good if it looks like those renders and drops that we're getting from Best Car. I'm excited guys. I don't know what else to say. I can't wait to see what you guys have to say below about this new information coming from Japan on the new fifth generation Prius and definitely stay tuned for all my hybrid drivings of the Corolla Cross, Corolla Hybrid and the new Crown next month. Can't wait to share all that with you. If you enjoyed the video, haven't hit the like button. I really appreciate that. Help this video get pushed out to those Prius lovers around the world or Prius haters as well, but have a great day guys. Take care of yourselves and peace out.