2010 Toyota Prius Spy Shot

Real or fake, the single thing that makes the image believable for me is the roof line. The current car comes to a peak over the driver's head and immediately starts tapering off toward the tail. The roof of the subject vehicle is flatter (which would be nice for rear passengers!) That effect could be 'shopped, but I think it would be very difficult to do it with a mask given that the rear door appears consistent with this new line.

 

Photoshopped by the Iranians?

After all, with their practice in missile photoshop-ing, they may plan to "photoshop" Israel off the map ...

 

it almost looks like they were trying to hide this!



from the front rear view mirror to the tail "window".. it matches profile. larger tires and steep angled front....

 

Ya know, we'll probably all find out when the 2009s or 2010s come out.

One thing is for sure, if they wanted to create buzz, they couldn't have done a better job than by hiding the thing in plane sight. Someone is invariably bound to notice subtle differences and start a discussion like this.

Truth be told, the time for absolute secrecy is likely coming to an end, especially if it’s a '09. Similarly, the time for anticipatory buzz and other free publicity is here.

I'll reserve judgment on the appearance until it can be seen without the bandages. If those aren't bandages, well, someone needs to try and catch whoever whooped it with the ugly stick.

 

Now that I take a second look, I finally understand. It's the bastard child of a Prius and a Cadillac CTS! Poor thing probably ran away from home when it found out what its father is.

 

The door lines don't mesh together. The top of rear door is higher than front door.

 

let me re cap this for people. This is not to show off the look of a new car. it's a new car in a slapped on costume to cover the new bodywork underneath.

they are simply testing driving dynamics and such with the profile (may that be only frame work or a complete system under the hood)... as others have said regarding elevation testing, heat, snow, ice, etc... it's all done in real world.. with a real car... covered up.

 

it just looks like an 08 with cheesy flares, imho, i think the 10 is gonna have more structural changes, the underlying lines of this car look exactly like the 08

 

It's not 10, relax guys take a look, all the shape is the same as 2nd gen. just a lot of plastic on it. Looks like somebody decided to laugh at his Prius and made this mods.

 

Well when I first saw it yesterday I thought it looked like a current model with one of the Japanese body kits on it. The tail lamps are almost identical to the kitted car. Saw it on the original thread on the Volk Racing eco wheels.

 

By the way, there is another higher-resolution shot of that same car on Flickr posted today.

The body definitely looks very crude like it's made of taped-on panels. I can envision a normal 2nd-generation body under all that duct tape.

Sorry to rain on the party, but I'd have say that's definitely not the fabled 3rd gen!

 

Not 2010 Toyota Prius Spy Shot

Frankencar.

Anyone notice the part on the pavement in the full pic?

 

Justlurkin, thank you for posting the close up pic. It helps a lot. I have to agree that it might not look as professional as a major automaker would make, and why the heck would a paper mache version be here in the U.S. ?
Tail lights aside, I think the car looks great! The creases in the doors and shape of the windows looks great!

 

Well, I for one think it's a fake. There's all kinds of things wrong - inconsistent aliasing, and there are so many crazy design issues it looks like it's a pontiac! For you guys who think it looks good, I offer you this:




Cheers!

Dave

 

Is it less aerodynamic??? (compared to the current Prius)

 

I really can't see Toyota designing and producing new bodywork for a
single year of production. It would be very inefficient, and that's not the
Toyota way of doing business.

So what about the pix? I see two possibilities. It could be a red-herring
put out by TOA just to keep us guessing. Second, and more likely, it looks
to be a club event where contestants are given an hour, some poster
board, and some white tape to design their idea of a "better" looking Prius.

So what then to expect for the '09 model. I would hazard a guess that it
will be the '06-'08 bodywork and interior. We know there are lots of folks
who will buy the car with the body as is. I would expect to see some
soft/firmware fiddling to demonstrte progress, perhaps a 10% MPG
increase with current HV battery, and some other electronical changes
that don't require major retooling.

Whether I'm right or wrong, I am looking forward to seeing how Toyota
handles the '09, really just a place holder before the completely different
2010 model which will have the capacity/flexability to go PHEV in 2011,
as I understand it.

 

You can only do so much when it comes time to do real road testing on a pre-production model. I live near the BMW plant in SC and I saw plenty of the new X6 in camo months and months ago way before there were real BMW pics of it out.

 

Anyone see the new Honda Hybrid Spy pics. This spy picture looks an awful lot like the Honda. Compare the lower rear hatch areas.
2010 Honda Hybrid Spied! - The Car Connection
...New Honda
...Prius? or Honda?

 

Definitely not a Honda, the Honda has 4-lug wheels (very common on Hondas) while the Toyota has 5-lug wheels (very common on Toyotas).