RAV4 Prime, 2021 Mirai Dazzle the Crowd in Los Angeles
One’s a 300-horsepower crossover, the other’s a rear-drive hydrogen sedan. Together, they represent some of what Toyota can do.
We’re not only in the final month of 2019, but the final month of the New ’10s! Soon, the magic and mystery of the New ’20s will be upon us, offering plenty of excitement at all the things Toyota will bring over the next decade to come.
Lucky for us, Toyota brought a couple examples of such things to the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show back in mid-November, each one demonstrating some of what the company can do. Behold the 2021 RAV4 Prime, and the 2021 Mirai.
The 2021 RAV4 Prime is set to hit showrooms in the summer of 2020 in a big way. While most of Toyota’s truck and SUV performance offerings are more for the muddy trails and rocky hills, the RAV4 Prime is aimed at saving money at the pump, and throwing down on the quarter-mile.
The new addition to the RAV4 family is Toyota’s most powerful RAV4 ever, packing a combined 302 horses inside its 2.5-liter inline-four from the RAV4 Hybrid, plus a pair of electric motors. The combined output exits through the corners via an electronic on-demand all-wheel drive system, pushing the little crossover to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds.
When not stunning everyone else on the quarter-mile, the RAV4 Prime delivers on the fuel and money savings big time. Toyota’s first-ever RAV4 plug-in hybrid can go 39 miles just on electric power alone, besting all PHEVs by miles. You’ll also see fewer gas stations along the way, as the crossover provides a combined 90 MPGe on regular gas.
The RAV4 Prime will be available in two trims (SE and XSE). It’ll also have Supersonic Red as one of its colors, an eight-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Amazon Alexa on-board, auto-leveling headlights, and an HVAC system tailored to maintain the crossover’s insane fuel economy.
Coming to Southern California and Hawaii in late 2020, the 2021 Mirai changes up the formula established by the first-gen hydrogen sedan. The biggest changes are to its looks, and to where the power goes.
The first Mirai (whose name is Japanese for “future”), introduced in 2015, was a front-drive sedan whose appearance did not appeal to some interested in an FCEV. The new Mirai throws all of that aside, riding upon Toyota’s premium rear-drive platform, and wearing a coupe-inspired body draped in an all-new color, Hydro Blue.
The 20-inch wheels moving the Mirai will experience more miles between refueling (which takes just five minutes, compared to the long charging times for EVs), as Toyota aims to deliver a 30% increase over the outgoing first-gen model; that model has a range of 312 miles, and averages a combined 66 MPGe.
With the RAV4 Prime and the new Mirai leading the way, it’s safe to say Toyota’s future’s so bright, it has to wear shades.
Photos for YotaTech by Michael Palmer
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