What Happened to the Toyota Prius C?

Jane Lu
· 3 min read
Toyota
has made a lot of iconic cars, and the Prius is one of them. However, while the Prius is still a great car, Toyota hasn't shown as much love to other versions of the model. 
Here's a look at the Toyota Prius C and what ultimately happened to it.
The Toyota Prius C didn’t attract enough sales to stick around.

A look at the Toyota Prius C

According to
Autoblog
, the idea behind the Prius C was simple. It was supposed to be a smaller and more affordable Prius. However, as it turned out, this was not exactly what customers wanted.
In the 2019 model year, the regular Prius started at about $24,000. The Prius C, on the other hand, started at roughly $21,500. On top of that, the Prius C had worse fuel economy than the regular Prius.
The Prius C got 48 mpg in the city, 43 mpg on highways, and 46 mpg combined. In comparison, the regular Prius got 54 mpg in the city, 50 mpg on highways, and 52 mpg combined. It's no surprise that Toyota discontinued the Prius C completely in 2019.
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Why was the Prius C discontinued?

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Like most other discontinued cars, the main reason why the Prius C was discontinued was probably due to sales. Simply not enough people were buying the Prius C for Toyota to justify keeping it around. There are several reasons why the Prius C may have failed to attract buyers.
Off the bat, it wasn't that much cheaper than the regular Prius. There was only a $2,500 difference between the two cars. Its styling may have also played a role.
The regular Prius and the Prius C had a very similar style. While this look has become famous, it's also been made fun of quite often. When Toyota discontinued the Prius C, it released a hybrid version of the Corolla. 
Not only was the Corolla Hybrid more fuel efficient than the Prius C, but it was also larger, more powerful, and perhaps more importantly, it looked like a Corolla. It's very possible that a lot of people simply judged the Prius C by its looks instead of anything else.

What replaced the Prius C?

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While the Prius C was ultimately discontinued in America, it hasn't become extinct.
Car and Driver
reported that the Prius C is still very popular in Japan. But it's not called the Prius C over there anymore, it's called the Aqua instead.
Toyota has continued making improvements to the Aqua. It now features some advanced features, such as Toyota's Comfort Pedal system. This is very similar to the braking systems that are found in electric vehicles. 
The Aqua is still a hybrid, just like the Prius C. However, it's very unlikely that Toyota will sell the Aqua in America.
Just as Toyota transitioned to a new model when the Prius C didn’t pan out, you can also change gears if your car insurance isn’t working for you.
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