Paul Tan's Automotive Industry News

Toyota Auris HSD uses hybrid system from Prius

Advertisement

Toyota Auris HSD

This Toyota Auris HSD Full Hybrid previews what will be Toyota’s first step in offering a hybrid model for each car they sell in Europe by the early 2020s, and starting out with the Auris HSD makes sense as the 5-door hatchback bodytype is the most popular bodytype in terms of sales in Europe.

But 2020 is a long way to go – will we even be in the position to use ‘hybrid’ cars by then or would we have gone all fuel cell or EV, at least in terms of new vehicles? I believe as long as there are countries where cars have a much longer lifecycle and remain in use for a long time (such as our country), there will be the need to have fuel stations that serve petrol, and as long as there’s still petrol widely available, people will still continue to pick it as the fuel of choice, assuming the price of EVs and fuel cells don’t come down of course.

Back to the Auris HSD. It’s of course not the first time Toyota has put a hybrid system in a variant that’s not exclusively hybrid. However these hybrid cars have been pretty much reserved for JDM markets – we’re talking about models such as the Estima Hybrid. Everywhere else, Toyota’s only hybrid offering has been the successful hybrid-only Prius, and the Lexus hybrids don’t really count as they don’t have a Toyota badge.

Toyota Auris HSD

Blue may be the colour signifying hybrid or green technology for the time being but the interior is completely overdone. The best way to describe it would be just acres and acres of blue, with a white centre console area.

For this concept, the 1.8 liter Hybrid Synergy Drive system from the latest Prius has been taken directly and slotted into the concept. A hybrid must of course be aerodynamic (unless you’re talking about a hybrid SUV, then it becomes relative) so Toyota has lowered the stock Auris ride height by 20mm, and they’ve also fitted underbody panels, a rear spoiler, aerodynamic 18 inch alloy wheels, and a rear diffuser.

58576-a-toy
58576-e-toy
58576-h-toy
58576-d-toy
58576-j-toy
58576-c-toy
58576-i-toy
58576-b-toy
58576toy
58576-f-toy
58576-g-toy

26 Comments »

  1. wutever said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 1:44 am

    i’m luvin it!!

  2. Hari said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 1:49 am

    I smell Peugeot’s interior & exterior! in design terms…308 like,407 inside

  3. KitKat said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 2:28 am

    Hari,

    I smell Exora-ish dashboard and Neo rear lamps!

  4. joe said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 3:21 am

    Toyota is ‘Moving Forward’ in boosting hybrid sales n maintaining their ‘No. 1′ title in this sector…haha..nice design btw..

  5. y3n said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 3:23 am

    m i the only 1 who thinks tat the rear looks like our very own Satria Neo CPS?…

  6. mingyuyu said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 5:18 am

    Blue interior…

  7. hafizzul said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 7:59 am

    Bila masuk malaysia ni??

  8. nazri said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 8:30 am

    nice… rear at first time i tot it was satria neo

  9. barca said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 9:59 am

    hari,

    looks good and without doubt, it’s more like ripping off the new facelifted 207 exterior.

    thank goodness, the similarities stops at the front. :)

  10. bkk said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 10:12 am

    The interior is terrible !

  11. Jeffery Chew said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 10:13 am

    KitKat said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 2:28 am

    Hari,

    I smell Exora-ish dashboard and Neo rear lamps!

    Read more: http://paultan.org/2009/09/14/toyota-auris-hsd-uses-hybrid-system-from-prius/#more-16282#ixzz0R2jtzzxG

    Hey man, Auris launched on yr 2007 lah..

  12. lavenderguy said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 10:43 am

    why this model(not hybrid) is not on sale in Malaysia??

  13. nick said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 12:04 pm

    due to overlapped market…

    if UMW Toyota brings it in, where are they gonna position this car?..80k?..no way~it’s too cheap..90k?..vios n Yaris territory..100k?..wif tat sum of money u would go for Altis..110k?..ppl would start cursing Toyota..

    so?..jangan bawa masuk lebih selamat..

  14. Gajen said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 12:07 pm

    toyota please bring the auris here…..so much better than latio…

    i rather get auris than civic /altis/lancer….this is one sporty hatchback!

  15. helmi said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 12:20 pm

    Blue interior makes me blue..hmmm… Still skeptical the prospect of hybrid engine. Automotive industry is towards fully EV.

  16. MycarMylife said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 12:34 pm

    Toyota is testing the waters here for the Altis is on the way out ( just too many taxis in Asean )

  17. Y said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 1:18 pm

    interior is just too blue.

  18. malaysian said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

    Lavenderguy, i just rent the non-hybrid model in NZ, if not mistaken, it’s a Toyota Corolla. I was given a manual 6-speed (I asked for the cheapest car) The R-gear is beside the 1-gear, and this car is so smooth. Imagine 6-gear in highway. 140KM/h is so easy. (but we quickly stay back to 100KM/hr due to speed limit since there is no kopi-o-ticket here…haha)

  19. malaysian said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 2:20 pm

    I am right, its a Corolla.

    http://www.toyota.co.nz/NewVehicles/Models/Passenger/Corolla

    check with the spec, it should be 1.8L rented to us, since its a non-diesel car we are using.

  20. Dale said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 2:47 pm

    The industry may be pushing for fully-EV, but full-EVs are not practical for most people right now. The beauty of the hybrid is that it increases MPG while remaining practical for use by anybody without having to alter their lifestyle – you just drive it like a normal car and fill it up with normal fuel.

    EVs may be the future, but hybrids are the present.

  21. zam said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 3:31 pm

    kereta yang smart…

  22. gesundheit said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 4:33 pm

    lurve the exterior…hate the interior…

  23. automotive jury said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 5:12 pm

    haha..I’ve ask the Toyota dealer..they said, they can bring the Auris here but the price will be skyrocket due of tax..hehe..we as Malaysian should be like European..just buy if it was a good car with reasonable price and practicality..for example, there’s a lot of manual version at the west side market than here..just because of us as Malaysian like to use automatic than manual..so they sell what the customer wants..cheer..

  24. Rambo said,

    September 14, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

    Errr…blue interior…yeakks!!

  25. boleh! said,

    September 15, 2009 @ 6:59 pm

    this is latio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they copied latio design!!!!!!!!!!!!

  26. Man said,

    September 17, 2009 @ 1:15 am

    Small dugong. Vios with booth cut off.

Leave a Comment

Log in

Please do not submit your comment twice, the system has accepted your comment, it just needs to be moderated first. Once your first comment is approved, all subsequent comments will show automatically.

previous post: Birth of the E30 Coupe Owner’s Journal!
next post: Volkswagen CKD deal: Proton in talks with Volkswagen for ASEAN alliance again?