The Toyota Prius was first released in 2001, and though it barely sold at that time, it can now be found in nearly every city and town across the country. In fact, our city’s taxi fleet has just been replaced by a fleet of Toyota Prius hybrids! Toyota has been working on a brand new Prius that will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2009. The new Prius will feature a revised front end with a larger grille and cleaner lines, as well as a revised rear end. The roof of the new Toyota Prius Hybrid will feature solar panels. These new solar panels will be used to collect energy that will then be used to power the electric vehicle’s air conditioning system. This in effect will reduce strain on the battery packs that are used to put the electric hybrid into motion. Other features of the new Toyota Prius include a larger motor that shows an increase of 40 horsepower, while being more fuel-efficient that the current Prius engine. This means the Prius should show a greater fuel-efficiency both in town and on the highway.

After selling more than a million units of the Toyota Prius worldwide in the month of April, Toyota can not keep up with the demand for the electric hybrid. Toyota is planning on building a new plant specifically for the Toyota Prius, and this should ease the pain of ordering the Prius in 2009. In 2010, the Prius should be cming with a new style of battery packs that will take less energy to recharge and last for a longer period of time before breaking down (batteries have a limited lifespan, usually 5-8 years in the case of the Prius).

Due to the shortage of the nickel-hydride batteries used in the Prius, Toyota has not been keeping up with consumer demand. If you can’t find a Prius in a showroom, you will easily be able to find someone on the internet willing to part with their Prius for a ittle more than MSRP. Generally these are showroom-finish vehicles wth less than ten thousand miles on them, going for close to or above MSRP. But if you take into consideration the savings you will make by driving the Prius in the city compared to your current vehicle, the difference in price will be negated. Even though there are several other types of hybrid vehicles right now, the Prius is the way to go.