Toyota is taking a brand new method with the lease program of the fully redesigned Prius in Japan. The automaker will give prospects the prospect to get 10 p.c decrease month-to-month lease funds and all they should do is choose in for a brand new service the corporate is providing.
That service will replace the hybrid car’s security options and marks the primary time Toyota presents over-the-air software program updates for a mannequin. This transfer tries to advertise the brand new tech and likewise makes an attempt to chop lease costs and protect used-car costs in Japan. Toyota’s leaser division within the nation, KINTO, confirmed the brand new program earlier this week.
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OTA updates aren’t new within the automotive trade. Tesla pioneered the know-how and several other producers adopted the development, together with Polestar, Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, and others. Toyota is now taking the primary steps and they are going to be targeted on the protection techniques of the car, together with the collision avoidance system and different options.
“Tesla’s prospects are, to place it merely, high-income earners, and lots of of them are prepared to pay for brand spanking new and good issues in order that’s why their merchandise are a success with that phase of the market,” Shinya Kotera, president of KINTO, instructed Reuters in an interview. “Toyota’s prospects are usually not like that. They don’t seem to be somebody who would pay further for brand spanking new know-how. They’re searching for one thing good, dependable, and cheap.”
Kotera additionally confirmed the Prius is the primary car to learn from the brand new lease program however it’s absolutely not going to be the one one to take action. Toyota desires to broaden the service to different automobiles and ultimately make the brand new lease program accessible globally.
As for the brand new Prius, in the USA, the mannequin comes with a brand new 2.0-liter engine and a newly developed lithium-ion battery pack. The system output is rated at 194 horsepower (142 kilowatts), which is sufficient to speed up the hybrid from 0 to 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in respectable 7.2 seconds. There’s additionally a plug-in hybrid variant with the identical 2.0-liter mill that has 220 hp (161 kW) and sprints to 60 mph (96 kph) in simply 6.6 seconds, making it faster than the brand new Acura Integra.
