Three of the Most Interesting Toyota Priuses You’re Likely Ever to Encounter [2012 SEMA Show]

Whether it's a regular five-door, the new V people mover, or the small C hatchback, all Prius models are painfully boring—with the exception of this trio we stumbled across at SEMA. The group, which consists of a pair of Prius Cs and a Prius V, were being used as attention-grabbers for Japanese car-accessory maker HTNA. Consider our attention grabbed, because we've never seen anything like these creations, which apparently are representative of the cutting-edge intersection of Japanese women's fashion and automotive design. We're not sure about how much "design" was undertaken in these cars' inception, but they certainly have us reviewing the wow factor of our local Pep Boys' car accessories.Toyota Prius C Sweet "Our car interior make yourself beautiful," reads the plaque HTNA placed next to its Prius C Sweet concept. We're not sure if the interior of this orange C can, uh, make you beautiful, but its exterior certainly would attract lots of attention. There is a cheetah-print wrap for the front bumper insert, the hood, the roof, and the rear spoiler. Down the middle of the cheetah stuff, as well as covering the plastic window visors, is a stripe of lacy, doily-like patterning. Inside, there are actual doilies—covering the seats—plus cheetah-print floor and trunk mats. HTNA thinks the Sweet would appeal to kids in their 20s who associate with fashion trends described as "mixture style, cute, girly, unique." Sure, why not. Toyota Prius C Luxes Whereas the Prius C Sweet is geared towards a younger, less-tasteful audience, the Prius C Luxes kicks the maturity factor up a notch. With the Luxes, HTNA is looking toward the thirtysomething car owner, and as such includes luxury touches like a padded, stitched brown suede bumper cover, rear spoiler, window visors, and steering-wheel cover. The seats get mohair covers, while the floor and trunk mats get an oversize black-and-white houndstooth pattern that's echoed on stripes running the length of each side of the car. Bedazzled, backlit Toyota badges front and rear further announce this Prius's upscale aspirations. HTNA also determined that 30-year-olds likely are having kids, so it drummed up a special feature just for new parents. A baby camera mounted to the rear-seat headrest is aimed down at a rear-facing baby seat; the feed from the camera can be streamed to an iPad so that parents can keep tabs on their swaddled bundle of joy wherever they are. (Hopefully nearby!) For display purposes, the Prius Luxes even included an extremely creepy animatronic baby in the child seat. Toyota Prius V The Prius V people mover is the most practical, family-friendly iteration of Toyota's dedicated hybrid lineup—but who wants practical and safe? This is SEMA, after all, and HTNA modified its Prius V the only way appropriate: It ripped out the right-hand seats and installed a spin bike fitness machine. Unfortunately, when peddled, the spin bike doesn't provide any power assistance to the V's hybrid powertrain, so the vanlet will continue to be a slow piece of pork. The V's transformation from five-passenger people mover to three-seat rolling fitness club included the installation of a full-length center console, and a bucket seat behind the driver, as well as another bucket behind the spin bike. Wood flooring was fitted to the right-hand side of the interior, and a different kind of wood adorns the tops of the door panels and dashboard. Oh, and there aren't any doors on the spin-bike side of the car. Read full story » from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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