Is Toyota following GM’s footsteps?  How many brands do you want under one company?  It is obvious from what GM is going through that less is more.  Toyota, Lexus, Scion and now Prius.  The first three brands are all very unique brand wise from each other not so much when it comes to the actual cars.  Why have one fuel efficient brand, don’t you want all your brands to be leaders in technology and fuel efficiency?

The worst part of this is that under the Prius brand there would be more…Prius’s.  Not something I am looking forward top seeing on the road.  I am all about supporting the environment but not at the expense of a poorly looking car leaking NIMH all over the road creating a dead zone.

Anyway, in an attempt to go along with the inevitable bad decisions in the auto industry we have come up with some future Prius models to fill out the lineup.  Check them out and see if we are on to something.  Hopefully we are not.

First up is the convertible option.  All of the baby boomers out there can now gloat about their econobox at every red light in town.  At least now we will hear the music coming from the car to give us some warning of its presence.

With the bailout of SUV’s into CUV’s we cannot leave that segment untapped.  So lift it up a bit, create a sense of empowerment and go race that X6.  Good luck with that.

We have the baby boomers covered or uncovered with their convertible and the current middle agers and woman who want to sit high covered, what is next.  The youth entry.  Lets turn it into a coupe and grab the Gen Yers.  Tell them it is a sports car for the next generation.

It actually doesn’t look all that bad.  Although I am sure the 18 inch wheels will hurt the fuel economy.

What else could be missing from this full proof lineup?  Well movie stars love the Prius why not give back to them.  This should make them feel good and still have class when they get unloaded at the red carpet.

So what do you think?  Did we hit the mark for the Prius band?  Are you sitting there salivating over the potential?  It will be interesting to see what they do and how long they could keep a new brand afloat.  Scion only lasted 5 years…..

Here is an article about the new brand…

Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota may create a separate brand for its Prius hybrid car. The company could add both larger and smaller Prius models to the lineup, the head of Toyota’s American sales division said on October 9.
James Lentz III, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said the idea was proposed to senior executives in Japan but he did not know when they might approve the project. Toyota officials first discussed the concept of a separate Prius brand at the Detroit auto show in January 2008.
Lentz says the Prius brand would be similar to Scion, Toyota’s brand of lower-priced cars aimed at younger buyers. It could include the original Prius as well as new models bearing a Prius nameplate that Toyota is said to be developing. The separate Prius brand would be sold only in the United States, and is not under consideration for other parts of the world, according to Lentz. One future version could be smaller than the original Prius. In addition, there could be a bigger version, he said.
Toyota plans to introduce the next-generation version of Prius at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in January, where it also will unveil a new hybrid car for its Lexus luxury brand. The next-generation Prius will be bigger than the current car and initially will be built in Japan, Lentz said. Toyota plans to start building the Prius at a new plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, U.S.A. in 2010.
Toyota also said to be working on a crossover version of the Prius. The models intended for Prius would be designed specifically as hybrids.
Currently, the Prius accounts for 75 percent of the hybrid-electric cars sold in the United States, according to Lentz, and Americans buy 65 to 70 percent of all Toyota hybrids sold worldwide. In September, the Prius was the 15th-best-selling vehicle in the United States, according to Autodata. Prius sales are down 4.8 percent this year, in part because a shortage of Prius batteries has curbed production in Japan. (The New York Times)