British motor magazine Autocar reports that Toyota is working on a sporting coupe version of its Prius as a direct competitor to the sporty Honda CR-Z.

Although  it was formerly thought that Toyota had rejected the idea of expanding the Prius range,  Honda's ongoing struggle to claw back more hybrid market-share has apparently caused Toyota to think again.

The Prius coupe would use the same 1.8-litre VVT-i hybrid power-train and chassis as the hatch version, with 134bhp.

A more aerodynamic body and possible weight saving would bring slight improvements to the current Prius' 10.4sec 0-to-60mph time and 110mph top speed.

The same source  also suggests that a Prius-based MPV (small mini-van) is also in the works, intended to line up against the Honda Skydeck (Honda has as of yet made no announcement that it's Skydeck concept vehicle will definitely see production).

[SOURCE: AutocarAutoBlogGreen]