Will the Prius be offered in the form of a mini-van?

With the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid having 134 miles per gallon on its all-electric mode, doesn’t it make sense to use the Plug-in as a model for other car variations, like a minivan? Think about all the small businesses and local delivery trucks that could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions with the usage of a hybrid Prius minivan or all the soccer moms that could take their kids to practice without using a drop of gasoline.

Toyota, the world’s largest car company, is planning on designing a minivan based around the Prius platform. Adding extra length and width wouldn’t serve as a difficult task and they already offer compact minivans in Japan and Europe.

It was reported by Nikkei that Toyota will launch a Prius hybrid minivan, although this has yet to be confirmed by Toyota.

The only segment in the United States lacking a reasonable hybrid is the minivan segment and family oriented shoppers are leaning towards going green, so the market is definitely there. The magazine also reported that the seat situation would be flexible allowing for users to manipulate seat positions and create space for luggage.

This would not be Toyota’s first attempt at a hybrid minivan; they currently sell the Toyota Estima in Japan which uses a single electric motor and a mechanical CVT in its transmission. The Estima has been in production and on the market since 2001 and is considered by most the first hybrid minivan, ever. It is up until now that Toyota has decided to bring a new hybrid minivan to the US. Alternative Toyota minivans can be purchased at your local Schaumburg Sienna dealership.

Executives have been speaking publicly about using the Prius platform on different kinds of cars. They have mentioned their interest in sifting from a single vehicle approach to a multiple model approach manipulating plug-in hybrid formats, electric cars and conventional hybrid cars.

There is some concern about the lithium ion battery technology which is currently being used in the Toyota Prius Plug-in hybrid as Toyota executives still have high hopes for the usage of nickel metal hydride in their hybrid vehicles.

You can speak to representatives at your local Schaumburg Prius dealer for further details on current and future Prius models.