Toyota to offer bigger Prius in U.S. in the fall

Toyota Motor Corp. will roll out the hybrid Prius’ big brother this fall in the U.S. market.

The Prius v is targeted at young families, with the “v” representing the versatility of increased interior room and cargo space. The Japanese automaker hopes to begin selling the vehicle in the U.S. in October, said Ed La Rocque, Toyota’s U.S. marketing manager for advanced technology vehicles.

Toyota will offer a plug-in version of the current Prius model in the first quarter of next year and a smaller version dubbed the Prius c in the first half, making the U.S. market the only one in the world with four Prius models.

U.S. sales of Prius vehicles could eventually rival those of Toyota’s high-volume Camry and Corolla cars, La Rocque said at an event outside Detroit.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, has dominated the gasoline-electric hybrid market. The Prius went on sale in the U.S. in 2000 and has sold more than 1 million units, or about half of the global total. U.S. sales last year totaled almost 141,000, slightly up from 2009, and are up 13% so far this year.

The company envisions the Prius v competing across several segments against such vehicles as the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape and Volkswagen Jetta wagon, La Rocque said. He said the v, which was launched in Japan last month as the Alpha, offers 58% more cargo space than the hatchback model as well as more space than 80% of today’s small sport utility vehicles.

Although La Rocque declined to provide pricing for the Prius v, he said it would be a little more than the hatchback, which lists for $28,320 at the high end. The smaller version of the Prius, which will be aimed at young singles, will be priced below the current Prius, which sells for $23,050 at the low end.

The U.S. launch of the Prius v was delayed several months by the March 11 Japan earthquake, which caused supplies in the U.S. to dwindle, La Rocque said.

Toyota will initially target monthly sales of 2,000 Prius v’s in the U.S. La Rocque said the company envisioned the vehicle, which gets an estimated 42 miles per gallon, eventually accounting for 15% to 20% of total Prius U.S. sales.