Kenstyle which established since 1981, recently extend its styling and tuning to even gasoline-eletric hybrid cars. For this particular Honda Insight package, the Japanese tuners offer a specific grille treatments, front, rear and side skirts, varioua alloy wheel designs as well as sport mufflers. Furthermore, Kenstyle also lowers the heights of the Honda Insight to make it more aggresive.

Click here to view 6 photos of Kenstyle Honda Insight

Before the lauching of Toyota Prius on our roads, and while other automakers have yet to even develop a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, Toyota is already on its third generation of the Prius. This four-door hybrid has become a hit with consumers because of its stunning fuel economy, uncompromised driving pleasure and acceleration performance.

With the redesigned third-generation, Toyota has fixed almost every complaint that was ever lobbed at the Prius. The good news is, UMW Toyota will be targeting to launch this Prius in this October and several shots are taken by our crew near UMW Toyota HQ.

Toyota’s engineers redeveloped more than 90 percent of the Hybrid Synergy Drive components. A brand new 1.8-litre engine replaces the previous 1.5-litre engine for more low-end torque. The all-new transaxle is lighter and reduces torque losses by 20 percent. Both the NiMH battery and Power Control Unit are more compact and powerful, and finally, a set of three switches on the console lets the driver choose among EV (electric only at 25 mph for up to a mile), ECO and POWER modes to custom tailor the drivetrain’s response to changing driving conditions.

Without explaining further, check out the third-generation Prius review by Fifth Gear UK.

The picture of the above Toyota Prius is taken close to the Toyota HQ in Shah Alam by FastMotoring crew.

There is no solid news to the media whether or not the Toyota Prius will be officially introduced. However, from the sign and signal been seeing the Toyota Prius driving around in Shah Alam for testing and evaluation. I think we can expect the Prius to be launching any time in this year.

Furthermore, the Honda Civic already had been selling their Hybrid model since 2007. However, the Civic Hybrid is running on 1.3 engine while the Prius is running on 1.8 engine. It will be more powerful for sure and I think it will cost a little more than Civic Hybrid. Likely, we can expect the Prius is priced at around RM150k to RM160k, since hybrid cars will entitle on tax exemptions which stated in Malaysia government budget last year.

For our local Toyota fans, some news update for all of you. From our internal source, UMW Toyota is ready to launch the facelift model of Toyota Camry, we can probably expecting in this month (July 2009).

Click here to view 5 spotted photos of Toyota Prius

Toyota Prius hit a Higher-than-expected demand in Japan. To response to it, Toyota ramp up production of its third-generation Prius Hybrid. Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma, told Bloomberg news in early June this year that the company has increased production to 50,000 Prius hybrids a month at its Tsutsumi factory and Toyota Auto Body Co.'s Fujimatsu plant.

The 2010 Prius was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May 2009, taking the top spot in the domestic market for the first time ever. According to Homma, as of 5th June 2009, Toyota has received more than 140,000 Prius orders in Japan.

Mazda Motor Corp., a recent convert to hybrid technologies, now says it wants to put gasoline-electric drivetrains into its lineup in the next decade. And its hybrid powertrains will be on existing models, not hybrid-only nameplates.

Executive Vice President Philip Spender said during the Japan launch of the Mazda3 that Mazda will not develop a standalone hybrid model but instead the firm will offer gasoline-electric drivetrains as an option on existing models in its portfolio with the first cars expected in the 2010s.

The hybrid system will likely be offered as an option on vehicles in Mazda's lineup and not as a hybrid-only model like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, Spender added.

However, the official from Mazda did not disclose details on which models would get a hybrid drivetrain option. From my wild guess, I think it could be the Mazda 3 getting the hybrid. What you think? Let's discuss over in this thread.