So the Prius won't be a plug in and lacks lithium ion, the second hybrid was "an overstatement", the Venza hybrid won't hit until 2012, and the Sienna is delayed one more year with a hybrid delayed until 2012?

And people bitch about GM and the Volt? GM haters, take note.

2009 will be a good year for Honda.

Japan uses SI measurements. The US system of Measurement, per the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (Bush) makes SI the only legal, and preferred, system of measurement in the US. The 2009-2010 Prius cannot be measured in inches. Perhaps it will be 2 to 4 centimeters longer. Prii are made to SI standards. Why did the writer make use of archaic (pre-1862) measuring units to describe a 2009-10 vehicle?

So American readers can understand??? Just a wild guess.

Looks like I'll be holding on to my Prius for a few years then. We want a plug!

Is Toyota not going to compete with the 19K Honda hybrid - maybe the margins are too small in the sub 20K market ?

They probably realize that there will be few dealers who actually sell it at MSRP and it will mostly likely pad an extra 3 grand to the dealers pockets and end up selling at $21 -$22 grand, so no need to compete just yet.

Larger engine & larger size?

I'd say we got in at the right time for max MPG & min emissions.

Why on Earth is Toyota doing the "new improved larger powerful" American thing? To attract Hummer drivers?

To broaden the market, obviously.

It'll likely get much better fuel economy than the current version despite being roomier and more powerful. The added power will be nice to have since you will now (presumably) be able to seat 3 lifesize passengers in back, instead of 2.5, currently. So maybe a buyer who is on the fence will now consider the Prius. I don't see anything wrong with that.

My beef is with auto makers that come out with more powerful engines but that are getting no better mpg than the existing model. I don't think that is in Toyota's plan here.

I wouldn't bet on the it. The 2010 is rumored to have improved fuel economy over the current gen. My bet is Toyota absolutely wouldn't introduce a new Prius with anything but improved economy.

In comparing the 1st gen to the 2nd gen Prius the gen 2 gained substantially in size, added 200 lbs., greatly increased performance and decreased emissions while still managing over a 12% increase in fuel economy. I expect something of the same for the 3rd gen.

Because that's what I want to buy. A Prius that is bigger, faster, more powerful, and gets better fuel economy over the current Prius is something I'd pay quite a bit extra for.

We've been waiting forever for the official word on the hybrid Sienna. With our family, we really need to use a mini-van in some instances, but we want to be able to have the benefits of the HSD. What we wound up doing, since we really couldn't wait anymore, was got a second Prius for my wife (just picked up her 2008 today) that she'll use probably 90% of the time now that the kids are all back in school and she doesn't have to cart them all around, and keeping the 2001 Caravan to use when we need the extra room. It's paid for, insurance and registration is cheap on it, and we can't sell it for anything now so we might as well keep it.

We'll see if we're still in the market for an HSD mini-van when they finally get around to putting it out. I think Toyota really missed the boat in introducing it over here.

And neither GM, Ford or Chrysler has anything remotely close to the Prius or HCH on the market.

And GM seems to be taking a huge gamble with the Volt - a series hybrid with only electric driving the wheels and fueled engine only recharging the electrics. Will it even work very well? Who knows.

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As guestimate, it may be a better approach to raise the miles per hour to operate in electric only mode before the fuel engine kicks in, not the number of miles driven.

It's quite obvious in the current Prius that the gas motor kicks in whenever power demands are even moderate.

So, the better design approach may be to achieve more power supplied with electric operation and use parallel gas/electric for high power demands...

instead of electric only mode for 40 miles, then a gas motor to recharge the electrics like the Volt is shooting for. But maybe it will work well. I wonder where they're at with it right now.

Keep in mind the 08 Prius 'starts at' $21.5k ... the one with no backup camera or even Smartkey ... gotta have that.

So, the Honda $19k would be the bares bones stripped down version.

There are another couple of threads on this article. It IS NOT accurate fully.

Discount that statement about it getting the 1.8L Corolla engine
Discount that statement about the 2.7L 'bored out' I4 for the Venza
Discount that statement about the non-announcement of two hybrid models in January.

The fact that the NiMH batteries would be kept at least through the 2011 MY was old news last FALL. It was clear at that time that none of the vehicle makers were satisfied with the Li-Ions for long term use. They need at least another 2-3 years of testing. This has been known for at least a year.

Some of the article is accurate. The problem is to figure out 'which some'.

THIS is a very realistic assessment.

Regarding the 'Honda Prius'

For those that haven't done this exercise write down all the current real hybrids ( no fake ones allowed ) and slot them into 'price strata'. You will find this curious ( IMO ) non-coincidence.
$71000 plus........ Esclade 2-Mode
$51000-$56000 .. Tahoe/Yukon 2-Modes

$37000-$48000 .. Highlander hybrid
$30000-$35000 .. Escape hybrid

$25000-$31500 .. Camry hybrid
$21500-$28500 .. Prius

$23500 .............. Civic hybrid
$18500 .............. Honda 'Prius'

Any overlaps? Nope. It's very structured and very neat. Each manufacturer has a slot all its own. GM has all the heavy vehicles; Honda has all the small vehicles; Ford and Toyota play nice together and share all the midsizers ( but not competing ). Notice that there is no RAV hybrid to compete vs the FEH and there is no Fusion hybrid to compete against the TCH.

As long as each stays in its own strata there's peace. Coincidence? In Big Business? Highly doubtful.

The Honda Prius will be a huge success IMO because it will draw in those frugal shoppers who don't want to pay more than $20000 for a vehicle but they still want the best fuel economy. It will do very well but it will be a strippie.

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It looks like those highly-desired telescoping steering wheels and height-adjustable seats won't be appearing...