Toyota focusing on sporty style with Prius

Toyota has revealed the next Prius will still be a petrol hybrid, but it will look and feel a lot more 'sporty'.

This is according to the managing director of Toyota GM, Miguel Fonseca.

Toyota is concerned that, despite the success of the Prius range, the image of the vehicle is too conservative.

"It will be cleaner, with CO2 emissions below 100g/km," Fonseca said about the new Prius.

"We could have gone lower, but instead we have chosen to give the Prius better performance."

Despite rival manufacturers' moves toward diesel hybrids, Toyota believes the high price of diesel compared to petrol means it makes no sense to switch the fossil fuel.

Of course, the Prius's two top markets are America and Japan - and diesel infrastructure is poorly developed in both.

"We have set ourselves a full-year sales goal of 115,000 cars," said Thierry Dombreval, Toyota Europe's chief operating officer. "Believing this is the most appropriate target for the current market conditions."

"Both four-door saloon and five-door estate versions were unveiled at Paris, along with the finished production version of the iQ city car, part of Toyota's plan to launch 18 new models by the end of 2009."

Toyota Europe's president, Tadashi Arashima, added: "This unprecedented product offensive enables us to revamp our entire engine and transmission line-up by 2010.

"Our new line-up is the most appropriate response to the challenges we face today."