2010 Prius pushes average to 50 mpg

DETROIT —- Toyota Motor Corp.’s sleeker, more fuel-efficient update to its iconic Prius goes on sale this spring in a market growing more crowded with competing hybrids and battered by the global financial crisis.

But the Japanese automaker’s executives are confident that the third-generation gas-electric Prius, which promises a city-highway average of 50 miles to the gallon, will maintain its spot as the top-selling hybrid in the United States.

“Since Prius was first introduced, the consumer demographic has shifted from an early adopter to a mainstream shopper,” Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, told reporters recently at a news conference unveiling the 2010 Prius midsize sedan.

“The Prius has evolved to meet the changing needs of this growing and diverse customer base,” Carter said.

The highly anticipated 2010 Prius boasts a 4 mpg improvement over the current model, which already is the most fuel-efficient vehicle ranked by the Environmental Protection Agency.

When the Prius first was sold in the United States in 2000, it got 41 mpg. The 2010 version shown in Detroit will be sold in 80 countries.

Automakers used the Detroit auto show this month to spotlight more fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrids.

The new Prius debuted a day after Honda unveiled its next-generation hybrid, the 2010 Insight, which will arrive in U.S. showrooms in April and is expected to compete head-on with the Prius.

Honda Motor Co. said the Insight will have a lower price than the Civic Hybrid, which has a base price of $23,650.

Toyota said pricing for the 2010 Prius will be released shortly before it goes on sale. The 2009 version of the Prius starts at $22,000.

Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for the Edmunds.com automotive Web site, said the Insight represents a big competitor for Toyota in the hybrid car market that likely will undercut the Prius on price. How Toyota prices the Prius and compares it to the Insight, he said, will be key.

“The new Insight is a direct competitor for Prius,” Toprak said. “Toyota used to have a monopoly in the marketplace.”

Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, told The Associated Press before the unveiling that he expects the Insight will appeal to buyers focused on its low price, but Prius will draw drivers looking for a slightly larger vehicle and Toyota’s technology.

“It’s going to be a very good car,” Lentz said of the Insight. But, he added: “I think they’re very different vehicles.”

Prius sales fell 45 percent in December, but Toyota says the new Prius will help increase demand for the car —- including by current owners who want to upgrade.

Last month, Toyota said it was shelving its plans to build the Prius in Mississippi amid the industrywide downturn. Toyota’s plant under construction in Blue Springs, Miss., was scheduled to begin production in 2010, marking the first time the Prius would be built outside of Japan and China.

Toyota had invested $300 million in the plant before saying it was delaying production there indefinitely. Lentz said that Toyota plans to finish the shell of the plant, but there’s no update on whether production of the Prius or another Toyota vehicle will take place in Blue Springs.

The new Prius has a more aerodynamic design, but its exterior is easily recognizable as a Prius. It has a larger and more powerful 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine, which Toyota said helps improve fuel economy on the highway.