Toyota has worked hard to keep the next generation of its popular Prius hybrid under wraps, but its efforts were undone by an automotive spy photographer in Malibu this week.
The photographer snapped shots of the new Prius, the hybrid’s fourth generation, as the automaker was readying the car for its own photo shoot and briefly removed the tarp shrouding the vehicle.
What was revealed was a dramatically restyled vehicle that mostly forgoes the current model’s eco-chic egg shape for more conventional car styling.
The new Prius, which is to have its official unveiling Sept. 8 at a Toyota dealers conference in Las Vegas, looks far more conventional -- like a current Honda Civic or Hyundai Elantra -- than previous generations of the hybrid.