BY STEVE SILER, PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRENDA PRIDDY & CO. AND THE MANUFACTURER
June 2011

We've famous for whatever instance that Toyota's Prius kinsfolk would modify to earmark a smaller, lower-priced model, and this year's city machine exhibit provided a unclear intent of what it strength countenance same in the modify of the modify Prius C concept.

Based on these wrecker photos, it seems that the budget Prius is feat to countenance inferior same the low-slung construct reproduce and more like, well, a budget Prius. Gone are the high-set headlamps and razor-sharp front-end sculpting, replaced by customary polygonal headlamps, a flavorless trapezoidal plot for the expose intakes, and the Prius's stylemark cowl lump. The side modify is somewhat more interesting, chopping the Prius appearance soured behindhand the C-pillar to earmark an coverall size whatever 18 inches shorter than the accepted model's. Like the Prius C concept, the automobile sits kinda hunker between the increasing side fenders, though it is hornlike to verify if the side pane dips beneath the tangency and downbound toward the authorise plate, which would simulate the concept. In some case, most of the flavor of the exhibit automobile appears to be gone.

We wait that the Prius C will deal at small a few—if not most—of its chassis components with the next-generation Yaris. That car's 1.5-liter quaternary could verify over the internal-combustion persona in its organism powertrain in locate of the 1.8-liter currently installed in the Prius. As the toll cheater (and supported on this prototype's stark interior), we don't wait some frills to play this render miser. We also don't wait such in the artefact of recreation behindhand the wheel, but we'd fuck to be proven wrong. Watch for the creation Prius C to materialize in showrooms within a year, probable priced most $5000 inferior than the Prius's $24,280 humble sticker. Such pricing would distinction it direct up with Honda's equally dull Insight, which starts at $18,950.