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The 2012 Toyota Prius facelift has now made its world premiere at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. The entire research & development activity of this facelift model is almost unvoiced and without much information leakage. Though, it is a big surprise from Toyota.

On the exterior, the 2012 Toyota Prius get a revised front bumper design with bigger lower grille, new clear lens headlamps featuring a revised LED lamp configuration, while Toyota also incorporated daytime running lights in the bumper. Apart from that, the car gets a new tail lamps and alloy wheels options.

Inside the car, the interior colour scheme have change from dark grey to black, and improved with addition of silver inserts and new upholsteries.

In addition, the centre console design has been revised, the push start button colour has been changed to a hybrid blue colour, and the multi-information display has been improved with a 16 gradation-step Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) that is claimed to provide a clearer and more three-dimensional display.

Technically, the 2012 Toyota Prius remains unchanged with Toyota claiming a combined fuel economy of 3.9 litre/100 km in the European combined cycle, and CO2 emissions of 89 g/km.

Photo Gallery: 2012 Toyota Prius facelift

Toyota Motor Corporation announced that it will begin manufacturing the Toyota Prius hybrid in Thailand starting from November 2010. The car will be built at Toyota’s Gateway Plant, near the Thai capital Bangkok, where it also makes the Corolla, Camry, Camry Hybrid and other models. Thailand will be the third country to make Toyota’s popular hybrid after Japan and China.

The company said the decision was made as part of its effort to further popularize hybrid vehicles worldwide. Personally, I think one of the reasons that expanding the production aboard are due to financial reasons that possibly drive the car price more competitive especially in Thailand.

Toyota Motor Thailand Co. President Kyoichi Tanada commented: “With its excellent environmental performance, design and advanced technologies, we hope the Prius provides even more people in Thailand with the joys of driving.”

Photo Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius

In conjunction of 10 Years of Toyota Prius Anniversary Celebration, Toyota releases a sneak peek at an upcoming addition to the Prius family of products in Toyota Prius Facebook Page.

In the photo, the billboard that shows the Prius MPV hiding behind the current Prius with the tagline “The Prius family is getting a whole lot bigger.”

I think this is one of the 4 upcoming Toyota hybrid models that mentioned by Takeshi Uchiyamada – Toyota’s global chief of engineering and product development.

Toyota Motor Corporation plans to introduce 6 new hybrid vehicles model by 2012 on a global basis. Toyota plans 2 new Lexus models and 4 Toyota models with hybrid power plant. Some models will be only hybrid models and some that have a gasoline-engine variant.

All of the hybrids will be totally new model and not next-generation versions of existing hybrid models, said Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s global chief of engineering and product development.

The recent development of Toyota’s plug-in electric vehicle: Toyota and Tesla announced to debut the RAV4 Electric SUV at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show in coming November 2010.

Based on the current battery technology, it is not feasible to have all-electric vehicles for the entire fleet, Mr. Uchiyamada said. However, he added that the vehicles line-up in the next decade from Toyota will be hybrid and plug-in electric cars.