Is 2024 Prius/Prius Prime imminent?

might retain more value than a 23

 

We already know from the TSB (combined with people's VIN tracking charts) that the change went into production in mid-July or so. Availability as a spare in the US obviously doesn't reflect availability on a Japanese production line.

3/2023 was the start of PHEV production. Whereever that date distinction occurs in the New Car Features it seems to be as simple as "here's the original table for HEVs" and "here's an updated table for HEVs+PHEVs". I've not seen any evidence from the manual that there were any actual changes to the HEVs triggered by the PHEV production start, although there could have been. The parts catalogue is just mirroring that, I think. Browsing, I didn't find a different HEV part anywhere for pre- and post- 3/2023.

When the production line changes, they add a whole new slice of data to the databases and manuals - they don't replace the old info. Presumably there's a whole different bureaucracy path to get existing info modified...

 

Re: Updated parts

I'm digging into parts numbers for interior colors and I came across one of the parts that has changed mid-model year. The steering wheels have been changed twice already(for a total of three part numbers). The first one ran from production start through April, the second version ran May and June, and the current part has been running since July. I think most of the difference has to do with an updated computer module in the base of the steering wheel that handles some of the TSS stuff.

 

I believe production has now shifted to model year 2024.

TIS has been updated with the following dates:
2023: 12/2022-03/2023 and 03/2023-09/2023
2024: 09/2023-

 

And contrary to my dismissive "North Americans are convinced that something happens on a production line in Japan when the local dealers flip a digit on their website", there is something that happens there - they flip a character on the VIN of American cars! (Non-American cars get a fixed 0 there).

There may be nothing beyond that, but it means they are at least conscious of the boundary at the line, and if they were inclined to make a change they might align it with the VIN change.

 

Over here it's registration date that counts. Some places have clearly visible year indication on the plates, others it's just on the documentation for "first registration".

Dealer did say "if you're ordering a car for December delivery, we'd suggest you arrange to pick it up on January 1..."

 

Toyota doesn't make a distinction between the two at this level. A lot of the time the model ends up being listed as Prius Prius Prime. Yes, written exactly like that.

In the menu of the repair manual, sections that are different between versions will look like this:
+ Battery ECU (for HEV Model)
+ Battery ECU (for PHEV Model)


I actually agree with KMO's thought about it effectively just being a change in a VIN digit in this particular case, and I should have included that in my earlier post. Sometimes it's more than that, but in this case I doubt there are any real differences between the last official 2023 off the line and the first official 2024.

 

According to Toyota and all the car mags, zero changes for 2024 and intro of 2024 will be a non event timing wise.

 

According to the saleperson at the Toyota im waiting for my Prius at, he says ill definitely be getting a 2024 and that they only expect 1 to 2 more 2023s in... that was as of a couple weeks ago.

 

Ive been checking the inventory online and havent seen a new car show up in more than a month

makes sense theyre basically done with 2023 production. Looks like ill be receiving one of the last 2023s made lol

 

Model year is an artificial construct of the US market. Outside North America, it isn't used. Something to keep in mind when reading news from such places.

 

That may well be true but MY absolutely affects resale and trade-in value in the NA market. Plus, most manufacturers, including Toyota, use it as a point in time to implement small aggregated changes. I put a deposit with my local dealer for a Prime XSE a few weeks ago and because we're so close to 2024MY models I have it written write on it that it needs to be a 2024MY for those reasons.

 

maybe the 25 will get 16" wheel, more headroom and a wider hatch opening

 

Yes, but the 10th character that indicates American model year isn't used. I got my European PHEV yesterday, and the VIN starts JTDACCCUx03, rather than JTDACACUxP3 like an American '2023' Prime.

(The C denotes a different airbag configuration, but the production number is from the same global sequence.)

There is a precise manufacturing date on the certificate of conformity, but no-one cares about that. People care about dates for age, but go by registration. People might talk about 'pre-facelift or 'facelift' 'Mark 5' models, cos models tend to get up to one in their production life, but we wouldn't associate it with a year like you.

 

0 there is universal in Europe, and always has been.

I think there's a global type-approval split between countries using UNECE approvals and US-compatible approvals, and maybe all US-type cars (the ones with the side reflectors!) get the letter.

That would mean that 10th character being zero or not indicates that fundamental type approval aspect, which isn't otherwise shown directly. (It looks like it can maybe be inferred from the airbag letter here, but that wasn't the case for some previous generations).