Prius Winning This World Car Of The Year Award Would've Been Unthinkable 18 Months Ago

Toyota pulled a major heist in November 2022, when it gave everyone the first glimpse of the redesigned fifth-generation Toyota Prius. A large swathe of the automotive world — consisting of auto enthusiasts and automotive journalists — were left pleasantly surprised by the radical design changes to which the 2023 Prius was subject. The redesigned Prius looked nothing like its predecessor and was an absolute head-turner thanks to its drop-dead gorgeous looks and eye-catching design.

For the first time in nearly three decades, the Prius finally looked like something most automotive design connoisseurs would love to display in their garages. While previous generations of Priuses have won several awards, most of them centered around the car's eco-friendly credentials. 

Less than a year since it made its debut in the U.S. market, Toyota's design efforts with the fifth-generation Prius seem to have paid off. Unthinkable as it may sound, the fifth-generation Toyota Prius has won the World Car Design of the Year award at the prestigious World Car Awards in 2024. The Toyota Prius edged out the likes of the Ferrari Purosangue as well as the Ford Bronco to claim this title. 

For a car that has long been termed the ugly duckling among automobiles and has been the butt of jokes for its ungainly design, this development is a remarkable turnaround. In fact, such a development was unthinkable as recently as just 18 months ago, until the day Toyota officially took the covers off the fifth-gen Prius.

When the first-generation Toyota Prius was introduced nearly 27 years ago, the car wasn't particularly known for its attractive looks. What it was famous for, however, was its credentials as the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle. So important was this label that Toyota was able to keep people fixated on the car's eco-friendliness despite having some glaring issues with the design.

Toyota would soon find that there are enough takers for a car that promotes itself as a green vehicle that not only pollutes less but also boasts incredible fuel efficiency figures. For some, the car's ungainly design also meant their vehicle stood out from the rest of the cars on the road, giving them a strange sense of exclusivity. Despite the arrival of newer Hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius still sells in large numbers in the U.S. and Japan.

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Between the first-gen Prius from 1997 and the fifth-generation Prius from 2022, there were three separate generations of Prius cars that persisted with the oddball design. The Prius has been selling quite well for Toyota in the U.S. for several years. However, the numbers for the U.S. market plateaued around 2014 and have been going down ever since.

With the arrival of good-looking EVs and PHEVs in the market, it no longer made sense for Toyota to persist with an odd design for the 2023 Toyota Prius. It would be interesting to see how much of an impact this design revamp has on actual sales figures, though.