Toyota builds its cars to last 20 years but this Prius is the first to allow used car buyers to enjoy factory-approved upgrades

For the last 26 years, the Toyota Prius has been everything – dowdy econobox when it first came out, the awesome second gen that was so efficient, Americans feared the 'evil government' would force everyone to own, its successor which spread the name worldwide, and the fourth generation that further improved on the foundations of its progenitors.

Today's all-new Prius (generation 5, XW60) emerges to a new set of criticisms and challenges. Though praised for its arresting aesthetics and as a certifiably quality product, Toyota still found itself staring down a barrel of questions: "Why isn't it full electric? Why keep making hybrids?"

Going beyond powertrains

To praise a Prius only for its looks and powertrain is no different to picking up a Lovecraft, then putting it back after looking at the cover and reading the blurb. Obviously the value is in the words; and in this Prius specfically, it is its forward-facing engineering.

Carmakers today are slowly addressing the fact that keeping old cars around for longer is a viable strategy in being kind to the environment, just as it is selling box-fresh electrified ones.

Not that we're against the business of it; new cars are undoubtedly more efficient to use, but you know the old adage about free lunches. Building them still takes a slice out of our world's finite resources.

It's immensely complex, the carbon footprint of making a car. There's metals to be extracted and made into parts, rubbers to form tyres, plastics to mould into dashboards, and that's even before we get to the transport and assembly bit.

Also read: Toyota is quietly showing how everyone is missing the point about carbon neutrality

Of top importance then is understanding that the goalposts of sustainable motoring aren't just on-road efficiency anymore.

Cars rolling out of factories today will need to live longer yet balance that with being current, all the while minimising environmental impact.

This issue is made a bit tougher to manage in an era where cars are updating almost as quickly as iPhones, and manufacturers have no way to offer new innovations in a timely manner.

Toyota itself is no stranger to this predicament – they have over 100 million of their cars on the roads today, yet no way to know what's happened to them beyond the first owner.

Also read: Used hybrids are really cheap, so should you buy a used Toyota Prius, Camry Hybrid or Honda Insight?

Toyota aims to solve this problem by introducing the Upgrade Ready Design that's the other, less publicised marvel of the new Prius.

“We call ourselves an automobile company, but in reality, we are a new car company. To be worthy of the automobile company name, we have to look at the 20-year life of our cars."

"They spend the first decade with the original owner, then change hands roughly three times as a used car. As we transform ourselves into a mobility company, we need to figure out how to generate value across this lifespan.”

Those are the words of Chairman Akio Toyoda, and the challenge he posed to the engineers working on the Prius.

Developing the Prius with used cars in mind

Basically he's telling them to make a new car that'll be just as valuable as a used one, many years down the road.

Project General Manager Nariaki Amano says that it's a worthwhile cause. “I saw it as a challenge to transform the very nature of carmaking. Until now, our job entailed planning, designing, and building new cars, then shipping them off.

"We had no way of upgrading our customers’ vehicles after they were sold.”

Moreover this isn't a huge team – just ten people were involved. Individual specialisation in their respective departments be damned, genba culture means long-serving engineers now had to learn to sell various items and services in showrooms just to have a better view of customer behaviour.

Culminating in a car that's evergreen

Dubbed the 'Next Generation Used Car' project, the two-year development period saw executives and engineers alike learning the upgrade ropes by retrofitting a sunroof to an Alphard, as well as hurtling around Japan, doing on-the-ground work and hand-delivering parts.

Firsthand experience working the frontlines of sales and manufacturing led to the insight that future upgrades – benefitting more than just the first owner – could be made easier by integrating the necessary parts and designs (or templates) into vehicles from the outset.

Also read: Germany and Switzerland now admit Toyota is right - engines not the enemy, carbon is, EV-only solution is too narrow

Hence, that culminated in the Prius' 'Upgrade Ready Design', which factors much of the future installation of tech hard/software into the vehicle's construction, thereby simplifying labour-intensive tasks to make these upgrades feasible.

The end result? A car that's both software and hardware upgradeable along the car's lifespan, boosting their value and keeping them relevant for longer. In the future, the service aims to support with newer items and annual improvements.

Kicking off in Japan first with Kinto Unlimited (Kinto is Toyota's car leasing arm), the first updates to come are the addition of a blind spot monitor (BSM) and panoramic view monitor (PVM, or 360 degree camera).

Also read: Travelling lesser than before? Toyota's Kinto One now has flexible subscription plans, from RM 1,228/month

Although only in its first phase with the Prius, there is already interest for this project for other cars and from overseas plants. More pertinently, at least in Toyota, there's greater consideration of a vehicle's long-term value during the development stage – and that's the Prius' second revolution.

Also read: Toyota to launch 4 new hybrid models in Thailand this year; reiterates multi-pathway strategy for ASEAN