Hot Prius unveiled

15/10/04: by Brian Byrne — With the sales of Toyota's Prius firmly leading the way into the hybrid part of the motor industry's future, Toyota have widened the car's base by introducing a GT version.

The car's 1.5-litre petrol engine has been retuned to give a power gain from 77 PS to 99 PS. With an upgrade also to the electric part of the system, the total effective power output is up to 145 PS.

Toyota has also uprated the suspension to make the most of the extra power, and the battery has been repositioned over the rear axle, resulting in an almost perfect weight distribution. With a potential 0-100 km/h of 8.7 seconds, the Prius GT is no slouch.

But if driven normally, the economy and emissions performance is unchanged from the standard car.