Probably tired and unhappy with the “Priuses” term used until now to describe a pack of its hybrids, the car maker announced that, from now on, the name more than one Prius will go by will be Prii. That is, one Prius will be Prius, two Prius(es) will be Prii.
The term was chosen by Toyota based on the votes cast during its voting Prius Goes Plural campaign. The car maker says that in all 1.8 million people voted on one of the following terms: Prii, Prius, Priuses, Prium and Prien.
“Community has always been a big part of the Prius brand, so it was only fitting that we invite the online communities to participate in the plural discussion,” said Colin Morisako, advertising manager for Toyota. “The people have spoken - Prii will be the accepted term used to describe multiple Prius vehicles going forward.”
The first outing of the new Prii family of vehicles wearing this name will take place in a week's time, during the Geneva Auto Show. It is expected Toyota will make a big fuss about its new name for the family, so it's likely it will see at least one campaign centered around popularizing the name.
As for us automotive journalists, 10 years of using mostly Priuses to define the hybrids will not die so easily. So, should we, from time to time, keep referring to the range as such, please bear with us. Prii is a tough term to digest...
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