The styrofoam hamburger container shape of the Toyota Prius elicits a lot of responses, good and bad. But when was the last time you saw one and thought, "wow"? Back when the hybrid was introduced, amazement might have been a common reaction, but we've seen the Prius in the U.S. for eight years already. What could possibly make us excited about the car now (well, aside from the high gas mileage). Toyota North America's head of product planning Mike O'Brien has been thinking about ways to bring the wow back to the Prius, and it all revolves around a plug. As US News talked to O'Brien and then tried to crack the truth from the rumors about the upcoming Prius refresh. Their guesses:

• An all-electric button to go a few miles on battery power alone. This is a pretty easy guess to make, as the EV button is already available on the Japanese Prius.
• Two-prong outlets. Power your laptop or DVD player right off the powerful hybrid battery? Could happen.
• Plug-in Prius. Um, yeah, this one we know about.
• Lastly, US News thinks that the new Prius could be used as an emergency generator. O'Brien told the magazine that, "There's enough power in a Prius battery to power a 1,200-square-foot house." This would be an option down the road - i.e., not in the Prius we'll be seeing in Detroit in January.

[Source: Rick Newman / US News via EV World]

Click on the photo for a gallery of high-res images of the Hybrid-X Concept

There's a good deal that we already know about Toyota's next Prius. For instance, we expect it to make its formal debut in 2009 at the Detroit Auto Show, along with a possible Lexus sister. We know that Toyota plans to increase production by 60 percent in 2009. We also expect Prius V.3 to be equipped with nickel metal hydride batteries to start, though lithium ions could go into the Lexus model. A recent article on Auto Observer reinforces all of these points and adds that Toyota is planning to increase the displacement of the new Prius' internal combustion engine to 1.8 liters from today's 1.5 liters. This should offer twenty-five extra horsepower from the engine, pushing total power to a combined 160 horses. Even with the added gumption, the next Prius is expected to post an efficiency increase of around 10 percent, possibly achieving 50-55 miles per gallon in the real world.

The next-gen Prius is expected to grow a bit larger and could get a wagon option as well, though the assorted hybrid bits will actually decrease in size. If the next Prius grows too large for your needs, rumors indicate that a smaller hybrid under the Prius banner is also possible. Auto Observer quotes an anonymous source as suggesting that the next generation Prius is "still Prius-eque, but a bit bigger and more solid looking." The current Prius' styling is an acquired taste, but most consider Gen-2 better looking than Gen-1. We have high hopes for the next Prius redesign, and the possible Prius brand as well.

[Source: Auto Observer]

There has been a lot speculation in recent months about the timing and content of the next generation of Toyota's Prius. Reports based on comments from company executives at various times have indicated the model would and wouldn't be a plug-in, and would and wouldn't use lithium ion batteries. The consensus now is that the Prius definitely won't use a lithium battery at launch.

An anonymous Toyota executive has told CNN/Money that recent reports of a two-year delay to the Prius are inaccurate. Of course, since Toyota has never officially announced publicly when the next generation Prius would debut, there can't officially be a delay. Given recent sightings of a face-lifted version of the current Prius, it seems unlikely that we will see an all-new car for at least then next couple of years. But when we do, at least it won't be late.

[Source: CNN/Money]