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Toyota's fourth-generation Prius, due out by year-end, will achieve a range of more than 40km. This marks an improvement of more than 20% over the current version and more than 30% over the 2003 second-generation Prius. The new edition will surpass Toyota's compact hybrid -- which is called the Aqua in Japan and gets 37km per liter -- and minicars, making it the auto to beat in the global fuel economy race.

The car will boast higher-power lithium-ion batteries in addition to the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in older versions. Toyota will aim for a similar price range, starting at around 2.23 million yen ($18,700). The automaker will more than double the all-electric range of the plug-in hybrid type to 60km.

Das Automagazin Car and Driver berichtete kürzlich, dass der nächste Prius als erstes Fahrzeug überhaupt auf der Toyota-TNGA-Plattform (“Toyota New Global Architecture”) aufbauen  werde – ein modulares System, das das Gewicht des kompakten Hybriden um etliche Kilos senken soll.
 
Weiter berichtete das Magazin, dass das Interieur in Zukunft etwas konventioneller angeordnet werden soll. Unter anderem dürften die Fahrzeuginstrumente daher von der Mitte des Armaturenbretts wieder zentral vor den Fahrer wandern.

The fourth-generation Toyota Prius, slated for Spring 2015 production, has been delayed six months, until December 2015, with the Prius Plug-In coming a year later. While Toyota itself hasn’t clarified the exact reasons, it’s most-likely that engineers want to squeeze as much fuel economy out of it as possible.