Prius (Toyota)

Announced on July 17, 2024, PT Toyota-Astra Motor (TAM) presented its electrified vehicles (xEV) models including the concept cars at the GAIKINDO Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) 2024.

At its booth, Toyota also showcased the PHEV version of the all-new Prius, along with the Toyota FT-3e BEV concept car, the Toyota Kijang Innova Zenix HEV Flex Fuel Concept, and the Mirai FCEV powered by pure hydrogen.

At the event, PT TAM launched the all-new Prius HEV in Indonesia. The use of the 2nd generation TNGA-C platform makes the car's center of gravity lower, which improves handling and driving quality, combined with the latest Toyota Hybrid System. The Indonesian version will use a similar 2ZR-FXE hybrid engine owned by the Corolla Cross HEV.

(From PT Toyota-Astra Motor Indonesia release (I/II))

On June 4, 2024, Toyota Australia announced that the petrol-only variants of RAV4 and all other models where HEV options are available will no longer be sold.

Toyota Corolla and Camry sedans and the Corolla Cross, RAV4, and Kluger SUVs are now 100% HEV for customer orders, joining Yaris Cross SUV, Corolla and Yaris hatches, and new-generation C-HR SUV in the “HEV-only family”.

This HEV approach, which is driven by strong customer demand in Australia, was central to global decisions.

Toyota Australia said its HEV share reached a record 33.5% in 2023 and has jumped to 46.6% in the first 5 months of 2024 as it sold 46,821 HEV units. In 2025, more than half of Toyota sales in 2025 are expected to be HEVs or BEVs. 

Since the launch of the original Prius in October 2001, Toyota Australia has sold over 430,000 HEVs.

(From Toyota Australia press release dated June 4, 2024)

On April 29, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it has opened an investigation of two fatal crashes involving Ford's Blue Cruise partially automated driving system, used in Mustang Mach-E vehicles on freeways in nighttime lighting conditions.

The agency says the investigation will evaluate how Blue Cruise performs driving tasks as well as its camera based driver monitoring system.

The probe includes 130,050 2021-2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which already is investigating the February 24 San Antonio crash, determined in a preliminary report that it was operating on Blue Cruise.

The Texas crash occurred on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, where the NTSB says the Mach E struck the rear of a 1999 Honda CR-V that was stopped in the middle of three lanes around 9:50 p.m., killing its driver.

The second crash involving a Mach E killed two people around 3:20 a.m. March 3 in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, where the Mach E was in the left lane as it struck a stationary Hyundai Elantra that earlier had collided with a Toyota Prius.

The Mach E hit the Hyundai, pushing it into the rear of the Prius, killing each of those two drivers who were outside of their vehicles at the time. 

A police news release on the crash says a criminal investigation is underway and a charge of homicide by motor vehicle while driving under the influence is possible against the 23-year-old woman driving the Mach E.

(Detroit News and other sources on April 29, 2024) (NHTSA report on April 25, 2024)