Finally! A Good Looking Prius

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The first generation of Toyota Prius arrived in Japanese showrooms in 1997 and was billed as the “Car of the 21^st Century”. This dowdy little four door sedan must’ve been counting on the 21^st century being a pretty dull century. In its favour it was the first mass production hybrid car, but when you were promised flying cars by 2000 when you were a kid, the Prius was a bit of an anti-climax. Finally, in 2022, a new, sleek and quite beautiful Prius was unveiled, and Toyota NZ decided not to sell it. Read on...

The Prius was the world’s first production Hybrid car, but it wasn’t released outside of Japan until 2000. Meanwhile, Honda released it’s first generation Insight hybrid in 1999, and it was available in America and Europe, and even Honda NZ brought one in (which they still own). So you could argue that the Honda was the trailblazer, and it was properly futuristic. Sadly, it was too out there for most people and only had two seats. And when the Prius was launched in America it did pretty well, especially with folks who wanted to be seen doing the right thing for the planet.

Technically, the Prius has always been really clever, very reliable and incredibly efficient. However, it has always had the image of the automotive equivalent of white-ware. Indeed, there are many fridges that are better looking than a Prius. That was until the fifth generation was unveiled.

The latest Prius has finally embraced the 21^st century. It’s sleek, bold, and really quite easy on the eyes. Imagine if they had released it in this form 25 years ago. Well the sad truth is, we probably would’ve shied away from it, as Honda learned, to their expense, with the cool looking Insight.

Today, the car of the 21^st century finally has the looks to go with the title. And if it wasn’t for our innate conservatism and love of SUVs, it might’ve even been successful here. Sadly, you can only get a new model Prius as a used import as Toyota NZ decided not to sell it here, instead opting for the Hybrid Corolla.

But you can buy this 2023 model with just 16,000kms on the clock when it’s auctioned on the 22^nd April. More details here.