Tokyo – 15 February 2017
1. Close of the new Prius PHV being unveiled
2. Wide of Takeshi Uchiyamada, Chairman of the Board of directors, Toyota Motor Corporation, on the stage
3. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takeshi Uchiyamada, Chairman of the Board of directors, Toyota Motor Corporation:
"This is the key and core of the eco car and this is the car which should become the mainstream of the eco car from now on. What comes after the hybrid car? That will be PHV (plug in hybrid). This is Toyota's answer."
4. Close of new Prius PHV
5. Wide of Shoichi Kaneko, Deputy Chief Engineer, Toyota Motor Corporation, on stage
6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Shoichi Kaneko, Deputy Chief Engineer, Toyota Motor Corporation:
"Finally, we converted solar energy to driving energy. We have made the option of a solar energy charging system available which will become a first for the mass production car."
7. Various of solar panel on the roof part of Prius PHV
8. Close of PHV sign
9. Various of plug in part on the side of the car
10. Close of Prius PHV sign
11. Various of Toyota managers and Japanese actresss who will front the TV ad for the Prius PHV
LEAD IN:
Toyota has revamped its plug-in hybrid with a longer cruising range and quicker charging.
The new Prius PHV also comes with solar panels and can be charged by plugging into a regular home electricity socket.
STORY-LINE:
This is Toyota's new Prius plug-in hybrid (PHV) which goes on sale in Japan today (Wednesday 15 Feb 2017).
The auto maker is hoping it will sell better than the first model from five years ago that officials acknowledged had flopped.
Sales in the U.S., where it's called Prius Prime, started late last year. It is set to launch in Europe and other countries in March.
Chairman of the Board of Directors at Toyota Motor Corporation, Takeshi Uchiyamada calls the PHV the future of eco cars.
"This is the key and core of the eco car and this is the car which should become the mainstream of the eco car from now on. What comes after the hybrid car? That will be PHV (plug in hybrid). This is Toyota's answer."
A hybrid switches between a gas engine and an electric motor that is powered by that gas engine.
A plug-in hybrid can travel further as a pure electric vehicle, which is zero-emission, but needs recharging when its battery is spent.
The cruising range of the new plug-in as an electric vehicle is 68.2 kilometres (42.4 miles), about five times the earlier model's 26.4 kilometres (16.4 miles).
Deputy Chief Engineer of Toyota Motor Corporation, Shoichi Kaneko says the Prius PHV can also be charged using solar panels on the roof.
"Finally, we converted solar energy to driving energy. We have made the option of a solar energy charging system available which will become a first for the mass production car."
Toyota says the car can drive up to 6.1 kilometres per day on solar power generated power.
The car can be fully charged in two hours and 20 minutes, from a 200-volt outlet and in 14 hours at a 100-volt outlet. At a special charging machine, it reaches an 80 percent charge in just 20 minutes.
Toyota hopes to sell 2,500 PHV cars in Japan a month. It gave no overseas targets. It sold only 22,000 of the earlier PHVs.
The lacklustre sales contrast with Toyota's leadership in hybrid vehicles; it has sold 10 million globally since the first Prius went on sale in 1997.
Nearly half of the vehicles Toyota sells in Japan are hybrid models.
