Featured Prius Prime Name Change for Model Year 2025 to be known as Prius Plug-in Hybrid

You joke, but that is pretty much what Hyundai and Amazon are working on.

The plan doesn't seem to have progressed very far since they announced it, but the idea was you could buy Hyundai cars with a few clicks on the Amazon website, none of those dealer hassles.

I'm certain it's part of why Toyota wanted to get away from the "Prime" name.

 

Too late, I buy my used cars on eBay and often see new ones listed. Only the manufacturers haven't figured it out, yet. Tesla already sells its new and used Teslas online. I suspect their non-Tesla trade-ins go directly to auction houses.

Bob Wilson

 

Yeah, they are trying to emulate Tesla, where they already sell their cars online without a dealer network. Not a bad thing for consumers if they can avoid predatory dealers.

Re lack of changes, I guess Toyota knows how appealing the new Prius is to the masses, so they don’t feel a need to change anything (yet).

Having owned the new Prime for about 13 months now, the only thing I wish they had not cut corners on was the charger speed - it would have been nice to have a 6.6kW charger like the big brother RAV4 rather than 3.5 it has, which would cut the charge time to ~2hrs; but it’s only a minor annoyance to me, not a dealbreaker by any means. I am sure there were cost and/or packaging constraints leading to this decision. But I digress…

 

that's redundant

or 7.2kW like the Volt - prior to its getting canceled .... better yet - the Ramcharger plug-in pickup due next month gets uo to 145kW charge speed! 4 minutes will get you 50 miles .... but i digress. Toyota has become famous for baby steps.
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I suppose, the PHEV is no longer consider at Prime. It was called PRIUS PHEV in Japan all along.

 

I wonder if we will see clear BEV, FCEV, HEV, and PHEV emblems on all four types of Toyota EVs now. That would be great.

I know @Mendel Leisk doesn’t like the acronyms BEV and HEV, but they are important to describe and identify EVs and educate the public about them.

 

Hope they drop the horrendous Bz4X name but that is another topic

 

Wait, is the name changing to PHV, as is used in the rest of the world, or going back to Plug in, like the gen3 PHEV was called?

 

From the press release link above, it looks like Prius Plug-in Hybrid is the official name. And “PHEV” badge is used on the rear.

 

No, they’ve corrected the acronym—not PHV as it was in Japan etc. but PHEV now.

It will officially be spelled out as Prius Plug-in Hybrid (with Electric Vehicle dropped). In that sense, it is the same as the original Prius PHEV, but the new emblem will say PHEV instead of PLUG-IN HYBRID as in the original.

 

yes - the Prius moniker somehow along the way - according to the marketing gurus in Japan thought that using the word Prime would somehow be a WOW factor
It's likely that less than a decade from now people will look back and say (once again),
"what were they thinking! LOL "
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right
maybe spruce it up a bit & call it the

§XP¢1R$5! extream slow charger

 

I like your humor , How about Spruce Ghost , a reference to the plane that barely flew
....I will stop here before i get reprimands by the community or the moderator

 

so now we have 5 or 6 years of gen4 prius prime, 2 years of gen5 prius prime, and 4 future years of prius phev?
talk about confusion, will future owners be able to post in the prime forum?

 

Deep discounts? Not holding my breath on that one. : ) I must say they aren’t moving that fast and PHEVs are barely trickling in. A blue Prius with Michelin tires has been sitting on a local lot for about two weeks. Doesn’t Toyota switch to 2025 in October. I thought 2024 started in October last year obviously with no changes.

 

That makes sense.

 

The way I understand it, the Prime name is going away as it no longer will be the highest model, at least in the Rav4 line. Rav4 is expected to be available as a full ev in 2026, with the plugin version following and the straight hybrid as the base model. Most likely no ICE only version.

The RAV4 ev will compete with the Tesla model Y, already the biggest selling ev in many states.

 

That makes sense. A full blown EV Rav4 would be interesting for sure, and a logical 'foray' into that world.

And yeah, I think you're right: Like the Camry, every Rav4 will be at least 'hybrid'.