Those of you who read my blog last week, on the meteoric rise of Toyota's Prius here in London thanks to its Congestion Charge exemption, might have noticed an undercurrent of antipathy towards the model in question. You'd be more than right - I confess to once writing an article entitled 'Why I hate the Toyota Prius' - in which I lamented its dull, ugly styling (bizarre 'pitched' roofline, gawky 'face', un-imaginative surfaces), poorer than stated real-world fuel economy and the fact that a car which is meant to be green and 'light' has the bizarre feature of hub caps fitted over the top of alloy wheels - which I suggested should win a prize for the most pointless feature ever seen on a car. A Prius fan, I confess, I am not.
One of the many Prius adverts currently running in London
However, I admit that the Prius provides us with some pointers for the future of car propulsion in the short-medium term, and its popularity in London thanks to the Congestion Charge also points to the ability of legislation to drive adoption and uptake of new technologies - which I think is a really key idea for the future. So the car's definitely important in the current automotive landscape. It therefore pleases me that yesterday Toyota unveiled a hybrid concept car, which the aesthetically conscious amongst us would actually be prepared to drive without having to wear a paper bag over our heads. It appears that someone in Toyota has woken up to the fact that design and aesthetics matter to people who buy hybrids too...
"Toyota presents a world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show with the reveal of Hybrid X - a concept car that proposes a new design language for hybrid models, while also acting as an innovative technology showcase for future generation hybrid cars."
Toyota's 'Hybrid X' Concept car at the Geneva Motorshow
Although currently just a concept car, what excites me about the 'Hybrid X' concept is that it's a strong pointer for the next road-going Prius, due in Europe in 2008/9. It's especially encouraging that Toyota - an inherently conservative car company, not renowned for design (Corolla, Starlet anyone?) - seem to be grasping the concept that design can be used in a clever way to differentiate their hybrid technology, but in an aesthetically pleasing manner, as opposed to the 'differentiation by uglyness' employed for the current Prius.
One can see a strong lineage to the current generation Prius with this model - such as the heavily raked bonnet and windcreen which lie at almost the same angle of inclination - yet here it's much better resolved - the head of the windscreen further forward proportional to the car's length, and the car having a much longer 'cam-tail'-like rear. Whereas the current Prius' roofline is punctuated by an abrupt 'kink' - the poorly resolved 'collision' of a steeply raked front and rear screen/roof - this concept has more of a cab-forward stance and a more sloping roofline, which to my eye melds 'fast back' and mini MPV styles quite successfully.
Cam-tail style
Furthermore, whereas the current car's graphics are relentlessly bland, the concept features a striking 'downroad' effect, created by encompassing the headlight units into the base of the windscreen, forming an upside down U shape. The rising belt line and currently in-vogue narrow side-window graphic (see Merc CLS and Chrysler 300C) endow the car's profile with quite an accelerative, taut stance. Further, if you really use imagination, it can be seen how the surface down the A-pillar, around the top of the wheel arch and subsequent radius down to the base of the fender - combined with the upward kick of the quarter-light window at the base of the A-pillar, has a distinct hint of Lamborghini Gallardo about it. Ok, I've probably had one too many cups of coffee this morning, but the overall effect has a pleasing sporty edge, and appears, from these pictures, to be relatively well resolved as a design - something the current Prius is not.
Strong front graphics & 'face'
Is there a similarity here??
Sadly, details such as the 20 inch wheels, Star-Wars style centre console, and what are - judging by the door handles - suicide doors, won't make it to the production Prius. But if the overall design flavour - apparently expressing Toyota's new two-fold design themes of "J-factor" (Japanese-ness) and "Vibrant Clarity" (it's expression in the car's styling) - comes through in the 2008 road going version, then the design snob in me will be much happier seeing hundreds of these things dodging the Congestion Charge in central London every day.
Futuristic, minimalist interior
Posted by Joseph Simpson on 7th March 2007
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