Images of Toyota’s all-new Sai hybrid have hit the Web ahead of the car’s Tokyo Motor Show debut. Announced last month, the Sai will join the Prius in the Toyota lineup as the automaker’s only dedicated hybrid vehicles.
Although the Sai is an all-new vehicle for Toyota, it’s actually based on the recently launched Lexus HS 250h. As such, the Sai is powered by the HS 250h’s 2.4L four-cylinder engine – mated to Toyota’s latest hybrid system – which should net average fuel economy in the 35 mpg range. Combined horsepower is said to be 187.
Despite its Lexus HS 250h roots, the Sai sports unique interior and exterior styling — albeit a little more bland than its Lexus counterpart.
Pricing for the Sai has yet to be announced but, given the upscale nature of the HS 250h and the Sai’s larger engine, the new model is expected to command a premium over Toyota’s other dedicated hybrid model, the Prius. No word if the Sai will make it to the U.S. market.



10/20, 10:02 AM
posted by:
2WheeledSpeed
Thanks but no thanks Toyota, I’d rather own a Fusion hybrid…
10/20, 10:10 AM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
huh? So is this now the new toyota version(copy) of the hs250h, or just a new version of the corolla?
10/20, 10:12 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Can’t Sai as I really give a sh*t.
10/20, 10:16 AM
posted by:
vvmasterdrfan
i agree with 2WheeledSpeed.
and what the hell is going on with that center console? and i thought the floormats thing was bad enough.. another toyota design failure…
10/20, 10:17 AM
posted by:
05Z88Path
Damnit you beat me too it johnny…that’s what I was going to say! haha
10/20, 10:22 AM
posted by:
HINKS
Wow its a Priusentra. What’s the point? Only looks a little bit bigger than the Prius.
10/20, 10:44 AM
posted by:
Need More Oil For Imports
I thought they had a 2.4L hybrid called the toyota camry hybrid?
10/20, 10:47 AM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
upscale-ish (relative to the prius), non-wedge shape, full hybrid…it’s a bit higher scale than i expected, but i wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a market for it…
10/20, 10:58 AM
posted by:
05Z88Path
@LWA. Agreed. I haven’t seen the interiors in the current generation Prius, but the last generation Prius had a shockingly “economy” type of interior. Not sure who wants to drive off the lot in a brand new car with plastics and cloth circa the 1980’s (and that goes for other cars out there as well…some Chrysler’s come to mind…)
10/20, 11:07 AM
posted by:
A4
Raise your hand if you would rather pay in the mid to high $20k range for this monstrosity, or pay $22-23k for a very well equipped Jetta TDI. Not to mention this sedan body style is hideously awful. I’m beginning to see more and more sedans that are just a waste of time.
10/20, 11:30 AM
posted by:
dirtfarmer
The outside actually looks… OK, they stole the headlights from a Astra, and the taillights from a Sentra. As for whatever that is on the inside (I just thew-up a little in my mouth), I agree with 2WheeledSpeed, give me a fusion. Why oh why toyota can’t you design anything to look decent?
10/20, 11:33 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
A4, that’s a no-brainer. Now raise your hand if you would choose that Avenger Elias just tested over this. Oh what a feeling that is…
10/20, 11:34 AM
posted by:
SomeGreek
Original interior, looks practical! Anything trully new and improved is welcomed.
10/20, 11:56 AM
posted by:
IIL
Does toyota get some sick pleasure out of seeing people buy their fugly cars.. I think they do, because my 11 year old cousin can design better looking cars then this..
10/20, 11:56 AM
posted by:
IIL
And the name should have been “Sigh,” not Sai
10/20, 12:28 PM
posted by:
adrian8806
Wow, so it looks as though they took a Subaru front end a Sentra back end, and gave it a prius tweak. Great Job Toyota, with your deceiving marketing strategies. Do yourself a favor and step down from the US Chamber of Commerce.
10/20, 12:42 PM
posted by:
Gantra
Don’t care for this or the HS250 design wise. Don’t understand why they would offer another hybrid that gets worse gas mileage than the Prius.
The only car i might consider buying from Toyota is the upcoming PEV version of the Prius.
10/20, 12:57 PM
posted by:
And The Winner Is...
This looks almost (unfortunately) identical to the Lexus vesion, and has the same dorky proportions. The front end overhang seems too long, it looks like it’s falling forward
10/20, 1:15 PM
posted by:
NRG
I agree with the comments on here. It’s just very bland looking. Any reason why a hybrid cannot be designed to be better looking? Most of them are bland. The Fusion is only slightly better looking. The start up companies making eco friendly cars seem to do a much better job, although they are much more expensive. Fisker comes to mind. So if a car looks great and has a high appeal to the public, then I guess that means it has to cost a lot more. I’m sure these cars can look a lot better and not have to have 300 plus horsepower to look good. A lower horsepower eco friendly car does not have to be bland looking.
Anyway, I’m probably talking to a wall. Like Toyota will ever read this. So in essence, I just wasted my time typing all this B.S. Lol.
10/20, 3:02 PM
posted by:
KarLoveBoy88
Wow another Boryota. Whats the point of this car? To steal sales from the even more boring HS counterpart? Its like they aren’t even trying anymore. This isn’t anything one would die over. Just a sad excuse for them to make more money. KEEP YOUR CRAP!!!
10/20, 3:16 PM
posted by:
HoosierHero
That center stack HAS to go. It looks like it’s propped-up with a painted 2×4…
10/20, 3:56 PM
posted by:
09Accord
Well it looks better then the prius..I guess? I’ll take the Fusion hybrid.
10/20, 6:26 PM
posted by:
zoomzoomer
This is nothing more than the HS with Toyotized front and rear fasciae. A4: I’d rather pay mid-to-high $20s for this than the $37K sticker price that Lexus is trying to charge for the same basic vehicle!
10/20, 6:56 PM
posted by:
boogeyman0906
So, when somebody says (here especially) that a car is boring, then it wouldnt sell. isnt the Camry boring, Accord boring, Malibu boring, Taurus of old boring, Fusion boring. So those cars are not selling.????
Since 2000 how many carmys, accords, malibus have been sold ??? Compare that to the exciting, Jetta ?? I have driven the Jetta is handles real well. Nice car. but compare the sales of the Jetta to the boring cars. Hmmmm….
Maybe exciting is not on the top of the list of most buyers when they buy a car, maybe it is function.
Hmmmmm
Heck have you seen the sales of Hyundai lately ? sounds scary huh. Any of their cars excite any of you? Well i take that back, the Genesis coupe looks promising. But still. How can Hyundai do better than Toyota, Honda, any of the Big 3 this year. (Im talking about comparative sales ok), with such boring cars ???
Boring sells, do i like it no. but it is a fact..
10/20, 7:17 PM
posted by:
superman
^^ I wouldn’t worry about what most of the squirming fanboys on this site have to say…its mostly mouth foaming and egocentric bias to comfort their frustrated souls, which indeed is a lot of fun to observe =]
10/20, 7:21 PM
posted by:
superman
sai is a stupid name btw but then again so is cruze, or chevette, or volt
10/21, 12:35 AM
posted by:
The Stig
Toyota, always pushing forward, still uses NiMH batteries instead of Lithium Ion/Polymer. Conservative to a fault.
10/21, 5:23 AM
posted by:
SERSteve
To me this is MUCH better looking than the Prius, and with the bigger motor, it will be more powerful. I actually like ti better than the Lexus version, the side looks less forced, (it doesn’t have the little kick up at the rear doors like the Lexus) I think they don’t use Lithium batteries because there is a greater potential for a battery fire type failure with those batteries, not sure but I believe I’ve read that somewhere. Also, from what I’ve read Li/Poly batteries have a kind of special recharging requirement that probably wouldn’t work well in an on/off/on/off hybrid charging system. But might be okay in a plug-in hybrid. (Just my two cents I researched Li/Poly batteries when I was searching for an MP3 player…) I actually kind of like this car. (not really fond of the name, could just call it the Hybrid 2.4 or something simple like that…)
10/21, 6:13 PM
posted by:
iluvamcars
And people say Toyota doesn’t rebadge! It doesn’t matter if Lexus is not sold in Japan, its still badge engineering. Now if Lexus was sold in Japan, it would be overlapping, as if this was sold here.
-iluvamcars