New Toyota Prius Looks Fucking Horrendous

"Mikeado" (mikeado) 08/29/2015 at 09:52 • Filed to: Toyota Prius, hybrids, 2016, eye bleach required

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I don’t actually have the words for how offensively unpleasant the aesthetics of the new Toyota Prius would appear to be, so I’m just going to throw up these photos !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and let you try to find some words of your own.

Taking merciless levels of inspiration from the Mirai hydrogen car, it will sport an updated version of the old powertrain, with a 10% boost in fuel efficiency and an electric-only range longer than the current 11 miles. There is no further info at this point.

The shape of it’s one thing, probably chasing a low drag Cd, but the styling itself is inexcusably bad. This is a problem in places where the model is ubiquitous, because you’ll be forever cursed with seeing one on your way to/from work/buying bleach.

daender > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 09:54

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The rear actually looks cool, I love huge swooping tail lights like that. The front is all kinds of wtf...

Nerd-Vol > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 09:55

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I like it.

Nobi > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:04

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Why is blacked-out everything a thing now? First grilles, now c-pillars.

PS9 > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:05

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I really do wish the world’s most popular hybrid could just look like a normal car.

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > Nobi 08/29/2015 at 10:05

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“Fashion”

BATC42 > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:20

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It looks like they tried to put some LFA in the front...

Nibby > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:49

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Looks appealing if you’re a catfish

tzx4 > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:50

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At least it is free from the gaping big mouth bass look that curses many other Toyotas. The overwrought tail lights and headlight contours are pretty odd and awkward. The roofline treatment wreaks of pretentious facadery.

Vicente Esteve > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:51

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Why do all Japanese cars have mismatching color bumpers?!

TheHondaBro > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:55

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That’s actually not half bad.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 10:56

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First gen Prius is best looking Prius.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > daender 08/29/2015 at 12:32

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I really don’t mind it. I’d drive one, if it wasn’t as boring as eating nothing but mashed potatoes (sans gravy).

blackchair > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 12:49

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Is this a thing now?

PS9 > BaconSandwich is tasty. 08/29/2015 at 12:51

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It’s like someone perfectly sculpted a plate of fried calamari with a side of sushi out of oatmeal.

AMC/Renauledge > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 12:53

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I actually like it. It’s not pretty or sexy, but it’s more geometric and harmonious. And futuristic.

The current car looks like a melting door stop made of cake frosting.

AMC/Renauledge > PS9 08/29/2015 at 12:54

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And then it’d be far less popular. Just like the Fusion Hybrid, Malibu Eco, Accord Hybrid, Camry Hybrid, Civic Hybrid, etc.

FlimFlamMan > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 12:55

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I’d have to see more angles to better judge. Initially, though... I’m not impressed. They’ll still sell like hotcakes though.

AMC/Renauledge > Nobi 08/29/2015 at 13:00

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What’s old is new again!

AMC/Renauledge > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 08/29/2015 at 13:01

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Really? This hideous POS?

AMC/Renauledge > Vicente Esteve 08/29/2015 at 13:02

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They’re the same color, but because they’re different materials, light catches them differently.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 13:08

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I kinda like those.

AMC/Renauledge > Nobi 08/29/2015 at 13:08

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Vicente Esteve > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 13:16

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Ah! Weird thing is, I haven’t noticed it in either German or American cars.

AMC/Renauledge > Vicente Esteve 08/29/2015 at 13:39

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Yeah, my old Fiat 500 did the same thing.

PS9 > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 13:44

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None of the cars you mentioned are less popular than the Prius. Sales are not broken down by trim level, but even the slowest selling car in your list has almost double the volume of the Prius YTD , and a little bit more than the entire Prius line (P-V, P-Sedan, P-Compact) YTD.

So how many of those were the hybrid version, though? I don’t know. But lets pretend for a moment that we know it’s really small; if 25% of the Camry’s YTD volume ( 254k cars ) are hybrids, then there is only a 3k difference in volume between the Prius and the Camry this year. 25% is not enough to spur the multi-segment wide market requirement for a hybrid trim level that we have today, so we know it must be more.

AMC/Renauledge > PS9 08/29/2015 at 13:55

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The Prius is the best-selling hybrid because of its distinctive looks. People who want to make a statement bought one because of its distinctive look.

What you seem to be saying is that, if it were a Corolla Hybrid instead of a Prius, it’d sell better. I disagree completely.

Also, automakers offer vehicle systems all the time with less than 25, 20, or even 10% take rate.

V6 6MT Accord coupes account for about 1% of Accord sales, yet Honda keeps spitting them out at that take rate for 15 years.

Nobi > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 13:56

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That was back when everyone was going for the “Our roof is floating! It’s the future!” look though, and they could get away with it because their greenhouses were huge with small pillars and tons of visibility. These look like they’re admitting they haven’t got enough visibility so they’re trying to fake more windows in.

AMC/Renauledge > Nobi 08/29/2015 at 14:00

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I agree. And between vehicle aero and crash standards, it's getting harder to make cars with decent greenhouses anymore.

PS9 > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 14:15

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The Prius is the best-selling hybrid because of its distinctive looks. People who want to make a statement bought one because of its distinctive look.

Umm. no. Prius buyers first brought it because it got 15-20 MPG or better over most other cars in this segment and continued to buy it because relevant competitors did not exist until very recently. You have apparently confused the motives of supercar buyers and hybrid buyers.

Toyota buyers don’t want ‘a statement’; they want a blender. Some pick the Prius because it is the more efficient than the other blenders.

What you seem to be saying is that, if it were a Corolla Hybrid instead of a Prius, it’d sell better.

I never said this.

Also, automakers offer vehicle systems all the time with less than 25, 20, or even 10% take rate.

V6 6MT Accord coupes account for about 1% of Accord sales, yet Honda keeps spitting them out at that take rate for 15 years.

This is actually a perfect inverse example of what I mean; if a collection of features causes the sales of a trim level to plummet, that trim and those features don’t get offered anymore. ‘V6, Coupe, Manual’ are option boxes every other car maker in this segment no longer allow you to check, and for good reason because almost nobody wants that.

Compare that to the ‘Hybrid, Automatic, Four Door’ collection of features and relevant trim level; in the beginning, one car had that. A few generations later, they all do. That is a market wide correction embraced by ever auto manufacturer. You need more than 25% more volume to cause that, which is how we know the hybrid trim on a car in this segment must be higher than 25%.

XJDano > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 15:38

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Mini karma fisker mustache grille. That's all I see.

FromCanadaWithLove > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 15:53

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But it’s just like a Fisker Karma!

... in that it has a moustache.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Mikeado 08/29/2015 at 16:48

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The back isnt horrible, but the front looks like an ugly baby with a binky... And not in a cute way

AMC/Renauledge > PS9 08/29/2015 at 17:42

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Nope. From 2000-04, Prius sales were pathetic. Gas prices were increasing from record lows and yet few people bought the notchback sedan despite its high mileage.

Toyota redesigned the Prius to be armadillo shaped for 2005, and sales skyrocketed. The #1 complaint owners had? The “Hybrid” badges weren’t big enough.

While Camry and Corolla buyers want a blender, Prius buyers want to look like they care about the environment and are doing their part. Which is why half of Hollywood has one! They want a distinctive-looking car that telegraphs their lifestyle to others.

And it works in a way that a Camry, Fusion, Accord, or Civic Hybrid doesn't.

PS9 > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 18:53

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From 2000-04, Prius sales were pathetic.

The Prius didn’t go on sale in the US until 2000. Sales for it tripled inside the first year it went to market. The timeframe you provide saw volume grow from 5k cars to 55k. A 10x sales increase in less than half a decade for a new-to-the-market car with unproven tech behind it is ‘pathetic’? Show me a new-to-the-market car with a better growth curve that isn’t the Models S. Pontiac might still be alive today if the G8 had given GM that kind of launch performance.

Toyota redesigned the Prius to be armadillo shaped for 2005

Incorrect. The XW20 had been presented at the NYIAS in 2003 for the 2004 MY. As you can today with MY 2016 cars, people would have been able to buy MY 2004 Priuses in the fall of 2003. In terms of market growth, the Prius brand never grew faster than it had when it was launched (which is totally fine, since a 10x growth factor is hardly sustainable, even if you do dominate your segment of the market like the Prius does)

The #1 complaint owners had? The “Hybrid” badges weren’t big enough.

[Citation needed]

...And it works in a way that a Camry, Fusion, Accord, or Civic Hybrid doesn’t.

...and again, you miss the point. I’ll contain it to a single sentence this time; Market Volume for hybrid trim levels must be a non-trivially high number, because we went from ‘0 hybrid trim levels’ to ‘every single car everyone makes in this segment and a few others must have one’ in a very short amount of time.

Vicente Esteve > AMC/Renauledge 08/29/2015 at 22:09

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Holy hell, I had never seen that before in a 500

Daddy's Beigemobile > PS9 08/31/2015 at 13:26

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I drive a Prius for the mileage first and reliability second. And that’s it. I’d kill for it to look as good as a Corolla, relatively speaking. You always notice the cars you own and as soon as I got mine one thing I immediately noticed was just how many of them have dark tinted windows, as does mine. I don’t want to make a statement, I certainly don’t want to be noticed, I simply want to save gas on my commuter so I can afford the other vehicles in my stable.

Daddy's Beigemobile > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 08/31/2015 at 13:27

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I own a 2nd but like the 3rd. The 1st is homely.

Reg > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 12/10/2015 at 07:54

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It’s not hideous; it’s just bland. The “bare-bones” look was pretty popular with automakers in general from between roughly 1983-2003. I kind of like it now, although I could see why it would have been criticized at the time. At least it doesn’t scream “PRETENTIOUS” like all 2012-present cars do.