Toyota Prius Wagon and SUV in Development

In brief: With the huge success of the hybrid Prius, Toyota is readying the next obvious step: a station wagon and an SUV based on the platform.

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Manufacturer: Toyota

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For most established car companies, once a successful platform is developed and marketed, the next logical step is to further develop the platform and ad models to it.

Such is the plan at Toyota with the hyper-successful Prius hybrid-electric platform.

So far, all that's been released are concept renderings of a station wagon. A Japanese newspaper, the Yomiuri, claims that Toyota plans to release the "X" concept wagon and possibly an SUV as early as 2012.

This is not a new idea, as Toyota concepted these Prius wagon drawings (called "Hybrid X") at the Geneva Motor Show two years ago.

The wagon would likely be the same as the 2010 plug-in Prius in every respect except body style. An SUV would be radically different.

And so ...

While an SUV may or may not be realistic from a marketing and a platform standpoint, given the emphasis on drag coefficient with the Prius, a station wagon would be a likely and marketable addition.

Photo credits: Toyota