No Truth In Rumor of 'Prius' Nameplate on Subaru Hybrid, Toyota Spokesman Says

It's no secret that Subaru is working on a hybrid, using technology licensed from Toyota Motor Corp., which has acquired a 16 percent stake in Subaru over the past year largely to tap into the lithium-ion battery development work being done by the all-wheel-drive specialist's parent, Fuji Heavy industries.

But now there's rumor circulating that the new Subaru hybrid, when it gets here, will be called the Subaru Prius as part of an effort by Toyota to broaden use of the Prius name and further ensure that it is synonymous with "hybrid" the world over.

Discussion with a posting yesterday evening on PriusChat.com  by someone claiming to be a Subaru salesman who said he recently attended a corporate briefing on the new hybrid at which the "Subaru Prius" name was used.

It might have been used as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Subaru's intent to license Toyota hybrid technology for its upcoming hybrid vehicle, but we though it highly unusual that Toyota would let such a valuable brand name out of the Toyota fold.

Our own Subaru sources say they hadn't heard of a Subaru Prius, and now John Hanson, head of Toyota's U.S. environmental products communications team, tells us that there's no way anyone but Toyota will be able to use the Prius name.

"Absolutely not. That's a model reserved exclusively for Toyota,"  Hanson said.

We all know that there are no absolutes in the corporate world, but Hanson's statement was delivered with firm conviction.

So unless things change, and they often do, we're betting on Subaru and Toyota keeping separate hard-won identifiers - such as "Prius" for Toyota and "Symmetrical All-wheel drive for Subaru.

As for that Subaru AWD hybrid - we reported back in May that Fuji Heavy Industries President Ikuo Mori said the company "hopes" to have it ready for market in 2011.

The battery type it will use, however, is unclear now that Toyota has said it doesn't consider lithium-ion chemistry ready for commercialization for autos. It's quite possible that Subaru will go ahead with its lithium-ion technology even as Toyota sticks with nickle-metal hydride while working on a battery chemistry that leapfrogs lithium.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

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John O'Dell September 28, 2009, 1:30 PM

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Hybrid, Subaru, Toyota

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