Happy 20th, Toyota Prius

Back when your author was the (soon to be not) proud owner of a 93-horsepower Plymouth, Toyota was prepping the American populace for a new kind of driving experience. A futuristic one, and a thrifty one, to boot. Two decades ago, it debuted a model that first appeared in its home country three years earlier: the Prius.

Eighty trillion jokes later, and after selling more than 1.9 million of the things to U.S. consumers, Toyota is marking the Prius’ 20th anniversary in this country with a limited run of special edition models. And they happen to look better than the stock Prius.

Just 2020, um, 2020 Editions will make their way to buyers. To be clear, this is the 2021 2020 Edition, which should confuse absolutely no one.

Offered in two colors (Supersonic Red and Wind Chill Pearl), the 2020 Edition dons a blacked-out treatment that Toyota says lends the model a touch of “mischief.” Of course, if there’s one thing your typical Prius driver knows about, it’s hijinks and badassery. The blackout treatment is applied to the 17-inch allow wheels, exterior trim, B-pillars, and side mirror caps, though the rear spoiler is a body-color affair.

Aside from these flourishes, bolstered by embossed key fob and floor mats (plus a smattering of minor interior alterations), the 2021 2020 Edition is just like any other fourth-generation Prius. An earlier report that suggested the anniversary model would appear as a loaded-up front-drive model turned out to be correct, as the 2020 Edition is available only in XLE FWD guise. This version, of course, will see its presence on the road limited by the automaker, not the public.

As we’ve told you before, the success of Toyota’s hybrid technology has punted the Prius to runner-up status ⁠— even among its stablemates. With Prius sales slowly declining and consumer tastes trending towards larger vehicles, the RAV4 Hybrid is now by far the best-selling gas-electric model in Toyota’s lineup. At the same time, other automakers have benefited from Toyota’s hybrid tech prowess. All of this is the Prius’ legacy ⁠— popularizing a form of propulsion that’s now commonplace.

Standard on the 2020 Edition, as well as other MY2021 Priuses, is Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 ⁠— a suite of safety aids that includes pre-collision braking with low-light pedestrian detection, full-speed dynamic cruise control, bicyclist detection, lane departure alert, automatic high beams, road sign assist, blind spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert. Android Auto connectivity is now standard across the range (it appeared as standard fare on the 2020 Limited).

The 2021 2020 Edition Prius goes on sale later this year for a price that’s TBD.

[Images: Toyota]