Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Version is a hybrid in a racing swimsuit

The common-or-garden Toyota Prius entered its fifth technology with a much more aggressive-looking design than its predecessors, and designers took benefit of the brand new look to offer the hybrid the Gazoo Racing therapy. The mannequin is an idea, nonetheless, and its drivetrain is unchanged.

Solely the quickest and strongest members of the Toyota vary obtain the Gazoo Racing (GR) emblem; the Supra, the GR86, the GR Corolla, and the GR Yaris bought abroad all fall beneath the sub-brand’s umbrella. Seeing the Prius be part of the ranks of GR-branded fashions would have been utterly unthinkable 5 years in the past, and it reveals how far the hybrid section’s poster youngster has come by way of design.

The outside receives many of the modifications. Toyota added a carbon fiber hood to save lots of weight, redesigned headlights, and a full physique package that provides canards on the entrance bumper, facet skirts, a sizeable rear wing (on a Prius!), and a rear diffuser. The 18-inch wheels sit additional out thanks partly to a wider suspension system. We’re advised that these updates make the Prius extra aerodynamic whereas bettering traction.

Inside photographs have not been launched, and Toyota did not have a lot to say about what the idea appears to be like like on the within. The agency additionally did not publish technical specs, which suggests (however would not verify) that it is commonplace Prius fare beneath the sheet metallic. If you happen to’re ready for an all-wheel-drive Prius powered by the GR Corolla’s 300-horsepower three-cylinder engine, you may seemingly be disillusioned.

Energy for the inventory Prius comes from a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain (you knew that already, in fact) that consists of a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and an electrical motor. The 2 energy sources develop 194 horsepower, which is an enormous enchancment over the last-generation mannequin’s 121-horsepower score however not sufficient to unlock a scorching hatch-like power-to-weight ratio. All-wheel-drive provides a second motor and will increase horsepower to 196, whereas the plug-in hybrid Prius Prime affords a 220-horsepower drivetrain due to an even bigger electrical motor.

Toyota claims it developed the idea, whose full title is Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Version, to have fun 100 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Plans to carry the mannequin to manufacturing have not been introduced, and we do not know what the long run holds for it.

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