Following the world premiere of the fifth-generation Prius, Toyota Times shares the full presentation by Simon Humphries, Senior General Manager of Design.
As BEVs garner global attention in the pursuit of carbon neutrality, Toyota unveiled its new pioneering hybrid electric model Prius in Tokyo on November 16.
The new model was presented by Simon Humphries, Senior General Manager of Design at Toyota.
After a projection tracing the car’s first four generations, Humphries appeared on stage to introduce the latest Prius. How did he redefine the reason for the Prius’ existence? His presentation can be found in full below.
The Prius’ greatest achievement
You know, with the current focus on BEVs it seems not a day goes by without hearing “How long are you going to keep making hybrids for...?” So today I’d like to talk about Toyota’s new hybrid car!
But maybe I can give you an insight into the passion behind the next-generation Prius... including an interesting struggle between Akio Toyoda the president and the development team, about the direction we should take.
The Prius debuted in 1997. Its name comes from the Latin word for Pioneer.
Since the launch of the first-generation Prius, Toyota has sold a total of 20.3million hybrids globally, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 162 million tonnes.
Japan has reduced its CO2 emissions by 23% compared to 20 years ago, a high level by international standards.
In North America, Toyota alone has sold more than 5.2 million hybrid vehicles and reduced emissions there by approximately 82 million tonnes.
However, the Prius’ greatest achievement lies not only in those numbers. Rather that, it opened up a viable alternative to gasoline and diesel.
Since then, hybrid technology has been adopted and developed not only by Toyota, but by the entire automotive industry. The Prius opened the door to a different way of thinking.