British motor magazine Autocar reports that Toyota is working on a sporting coupe version of its Prius as a direct competitor to the sporty Honda CR-Z.
Although it was formerly thought that Toyota had rejected the idea of expanding the Prius range, Honda's ongoing struggle to claw back more hybrid market-share has apparently caused Toyota to think again.
The Prius coupe would use the same 1.8-litre VVT-i hybrid power-train and chassis as the hatch version, with 134bhp.
A more aerodynamic body and possible weight saving would bring slight improvements to the current Prius' 10.4sec 0-to-60mph time and 110mph top speed.
The same source also suggests that a Prius-based MPV (small mini-van) is also in the works, intended to line up against the Honda Skydeck (Honda has as of yet made no announcement that it's Skydeck concept vehicle will definitely see production).
[SOURCE: Autocar, AutoBlogGreen]