Toyota is taking a brand new method with the lease program of the utterly redesigned Prius in Japan. The automaker will give prospects the possibility to get 10 % decrease month-to-month lease funds and all they need to do is choose in for a brand new service the corporate is providing.
That service will replace the hybrid automobile’s security options and marks the primary time Toyota affords 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 expertise 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 security programs of the automobile, 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 keen to pay for brand new and good issues in order that’s why their merchandise are successful 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 aren’t somebody who would pay further for brand new expertise. They’re in search of one thing good, dependable, and cheap.”
Kotera additionally confirmed the Prius is the primary automobile to profit from the brand new lease program however it’s certainly not going to be the one one to take action. Toyota desires to broaden the service to different autos and finally make the brand new lease program out there globally.
As for the brand new Prius, in the US, 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.
