Is This the 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid?

Remember earlier this month when we heard that 50% of people buy a Prius to “make a statement”? There are other hybrids out there, but it is the Toyota Prius that is immediately recognizable as one. As such, Toyota could be taking it several steps further with this outlandish approach to the next-generation Prius.

Created by some Transportation Design students at the Instituto Europo di Design in Torino, Italy, this Prius concept vehicle mockup has been drawn up to scream “hybrid!” louder than the current iteration. There’s no saying whether the guys at ToMoCo are paying attention to the scribblings of students on the other side of the Earth, but I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they took on a similar mentality with next Prius.

After all, the Toyota Prius outsells its rivals by far and a lot of it has to do with the look.