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mated 51 mpg city/48 mpg highway/50 mpg combined, yet
have seating for fve.
Yet the Prius was to come under fre because its ride and
handling weren't the stuf of exhilaration.
So when the engineering team went to work on what was
to become the fourth generation Prius, that was one of the
targets they focused on.
Back in March 2015, Toyota revealed what it calls the "Toyota
New Global Architecture" (TNGA). This is an approach to
vehicle development and production that is predicated on
sharing across models such that taking into account both
powertrain and platforms, there is a reduction in required
resources of as much as 20% or more.
In terms of the platforms, Toyota is looking to achieve
vehicles that have a lower center of gravity and a lower overall
stance. Additionally, TNGA-based vehicles would have a
signifcantly increased body rigidity, on the order of a 30 to
60% improvement.
(There is also a production aspect to this approach. Toyota
wants to reduce the capital investment required for new model
production. The target is
to spend 50% less to do
so compared to what the
corporation spent in 2008.
What's more, they intend
that the investments made
would be to provide more of
a mixed-model capability,
driven, in part, by common
vehicle architectures. This
would not only provide
fexibility to address
changes in model demand,
but also help reduce overall
investments. Another
objective
This is what the future
looks like—except that
the future is actually
the production model
2016 Toyota Prius.
Which literally means
the future is now.
"Hybrid car"
pretty much
goes straight to
Prius, and with
good reason.
19
AD&P; ∕ JANUARY 2016
PRIUS