New Prius goes on sale today in Japan with 80,000 pre-orders

The long awaited new 2010 Toyota Prius goes on sale today in Japan with 80,000 pre-orders already taken and will go on sale the the US later this month. Toyota aims to sell up to 400,000 units of the new 50 MPG Prius each year globally.

With a more powerful 1.8 liter engine and numerous technical improvements, the new Prius will sell for the same price as the older model. While Toyota now have to compete with the Honda Insight Hybrid on price, the new Prius is a technically superior hybrid compared to the Honda with larger ICE engine and more powerful electric motor. We published a detailed look at the 2010 Prius here.