There will be two Prii this summer.
Toyota Motor Sales announced yesterday at the Chicago Auto Show that the official plural of Prius is now ‘Prii.’ This Prii name is the result of a contest that launched in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. For those who endured Latin the real plural should be Priora or Priores, but this is live marketing not dead languages.
More than 1.8 million votes were cast during the six-week publicity stunt. Prii with 25% of votes beat four competitors: Prius, Priuses, Prium and Prien. Prius came in at a close second with 24% of the votes.
The plural of Prius has been open to debates since the launch of the world’s most successful hybrid 10 years ago. In January the issue became more pressing when Toyota unveiled a Prius family of vehicles, as part of a corporate plan for adding 11 new hybrid models to its global lineup in the next 23 months.
On sale now is the third generation Prius, introduced two years ago, and it will be joined in the late summer of 2011 by the mid-size Prius v station wagon, which uses the same platform, hybrid technology and nickel metal hydride battery pack as the current Prius. Its primary benefits are 34 cubic feet of rear cargo space, and projected EPA fuel economy ratings of 42 mpg city, 38 highway, 40 combined – the best of any mid-size crossover or SUV on sale in the U.S. at the moment.
(See Toyota to Debut Prius Line of Vehicles at NAIAS and Toyota Reveals Prius extended Family of Vehicles at the NAIAS )
