2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Earns 2012 Urban Green Vehicle Award

2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid

Other winners and runners-up

But First Snide's Remarks; The Prius Plug-in may deserve this award next year, but not now. How the heck can any professional auto journalist give an award to a car that is not even on the market yet? What do you think? msnide@theautochannel.com

TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 27, 2011 – The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in, which will go on sale in Spring of 2012, earned Decisive magazine’s annual Urban Green Vehicle of the Year Award today. The three Urban Vehicles of the Year award winners and finalists were announced after being selected by an independent panel of automotive journalists, who reviewed several dozen cars and trucks in various North American urban settings. Decisive magazine’s Urban Vehicles of the Year, which were selected on the basis of style, practicality and attainability, will be featured in the magazine’s winter issue and on mobile applications.

“We are pleased with the recognition of the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in as a well-designed, smart and attainable vehicle, especially in an urban environment,” said Jim Colon, vice president of Toyota product communications at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. “We’re confident that the Prius Plug-in’s extended electric range, selectable EV mode, expected 87 MPGe and quick home charging are among the features that helped Toyota secure this distinction.”

Toyota Prius Plug-in will be among the winners and finalists to be honored at the 16th Annual Urban Wheel Awards, hosted by the Emerging Diversity Education Fun (EDEF) and Decisive Media, on Sunday, January 8, 2012, in Detroit.

“This is the Prius everyone has been waiting for,” said Lyndon Conrad Bell, editor-in-chief of Decisive magazine. “Endowing the world’s favorite hybrid with the ability to run purely on electric power for significant distances and recharge itself from an AC outlet remade and exceptional urban green car into the ideal urban green car.”

Joining the popular third-generation Prius Liftback and the new Prius v, the new Prius Plug-in combines the benefits of the standard Prius model’s hybrid vehicle operation with extended electric vehicle (EV) driving and more affordable pricing than pure electric or range-extender type vehicles. The 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid, which offers seating for five, is expected to achieve a manufacturer-estimated 87 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) in combined driving and 49 MPG in hybrid mode.

Toyota has sold more than one million Prius models in the United States since the first-generation model was introduced for model-year 2001. The recent introduction of the larger Prius v and now the Prius Plug-in Hybrid brings this eco-focused model range to four distinct vehicles, including the Prius c, which will debut in 2012.