Toyota Motor corp. took the wraps off the latest iteration of the Prius, the hybrid vehicle that paved the way for electric cars more than two decades ago.

The fifth generation of the car, with bigger wheels and a sportier design, offers three different hybrid powertrain options and will go on sale starting this winter, the carmaker said at an event in Tokyo on Wednesday. Pricing for the new model wasn’t disclosed, although Toyota stressed it would be “affordable for everybody".

The world’s No. 1 automaker pioneered mass-market hybrid vehicles with the debut of the Prius in 1997 and contends that the technology still has a long way to go. It’s a bet on the longevity of the brand and technology at a time when Tesla Inc.  and other upstarts have seized the narrative to say that the era of electric vehicles has already arrived, even though they still only make up about 6% of total global car sales.

Key takeaways

1. Hybrid vehicles are growing more popular every year, with more than 454,000 hitting the roads last year.
2. Prius was one of the first hybrid vehicles, and one of the most popular.
3. Recent years have seen Prius sales decrease, so Toyota hopes that its latest model can reverse that trend.

Toyota unveiled the 2023 Prius, the latest in its 23-year-old line of sedans. The first Prius, showcased in 1997, was one of the world’s first electric vehicles and Toyota has continued the trend, increasing the power and efficiency of its hybrids since then.

The company claims that its latest model is its most efficient hybrid yet. Investors may wonder how further advances in hybrid vehicle could impact Toyota stock and its bottom line.