The recently released 2023 Toyota Prius is everything we expected and wanted it to be, a sporty-looking wedge of tofu with bigger engines and up to 220 horsepower. However, that’s still only a fraction of what you get from modern Ferrari supercars, which now also use hybrid engines. So what would a reasonable hybrid like the Prius look like if Ferrari made it?
Andrei and I have been covering renderings for over a decade now. We remember how amazing it was that Photoshop artists could mash cars together. Then came 3D, and now it seems AI can do the same job.
A program called Stable Diffusion can create images based on pictures its finds online and the inputs you give it. That sounds simpler than it actually is, but somebody told the program to make a “Ferrari Prius” and it’s amazing.
The thing with AI-generated images is that no two are the same. The program generates several photos based on what you tell it to, but all the cars will end up looking different. In the case of these images created by an artist called Automotive Diffusion, we’ve got elements from the previous Mk4 Prius, mixed with several Ferraris. You’ll see hints of the F8, the, 488, the FF, the 812, the Roma, and more. But most of the time, it’s just the headlights that differ.
According to AI, a Ferrari Toyota Prius is supposed to have plenty of Ferrari badges and exotic wheels. The roof is sloped, and the buttresses at the back are wider. Also, two large exhaust pipes can usually be seen at the back, which is quite unusual for a Prius.
The exotic Toyota is… an Aston Martin?
Over the years, many automakers have struggled to meet strict emissions targets. The answer has sometimes been to borrow an efficient car from Japanese automakers. This happened a lot with American automakers in the 80s and 90s.
However, there are more interesting examples from the modern era, which are also relevant today. Over a decade ago, Aston Martin decided its lineup of cars needed to be more frugal and sustainable. Too many V12, you see.
And so they created the Cygnet, which was a premium version of the Toyota iQ, a tiny car. Even though CEO Ulrich Bez justified this project by saying “we need to satisfy demand where we know it exists,” there was actually none. Although Aston planned annual sales of 4,000, they ended up finding less than 150 examples which is understandable considering they cost almost $50,000 at the time.
