You read it here first:
Toyota's claiming a
0.25 coefficient of drag for the new Prius, making it the most slippery production car available, equal to the now out of production 1st gen Honda Insight (although CdA is obviously higher). Underbody panels were specifically mentioned as an area of improvement.
Its overall shape hasn't changed significantly, however the "peak height" of the roofline arch has been moved aft 4 inches. This gives more rear seat headroom, but probably makes rear taper a little more challenging.
The car has a larger engine: 0-60 mph acceleration has dropped from the mid 10 second range to 9.8.
But its external dimensions are only slightly more than the previous model: less than an inch wider & longer. Height & wheelbase are unchanged.
An "exhaust heat recovery system" was mentioned, but with no details.
The car will also come standard with an "EV mode" switch, a first for North America. (Its purpose is to let you drive the car short distances and override the software which would normally start the gas engine - whether you need it or not - to warm up the exhaust catalyst.) Prius owners here have been retrofitting their vehicles with this feature, which was available in other markets.
Toyota is estimating an EPA rating of 50 mpg combined.
The new car has 1000 patent applications associated with it, and at its release the fact that its design architecture is "plug-in" capable was touted.
Competition is fun, no?
The text of the car's introduction is here:
http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/t...al-speech.aspx