When Scott Fisher bought his 2006 Prius, there weren't many other choices that gave him use of the carpool lanes on his drive to work in New York. That changed last year when the Long Island lawyer traded in his car for a Honda Accord Hybrid.
"It was starting to get a little bit dated," Fisher, 45, said of the Prius."When I bought it, it was futuristic. Back then, most cars didn't have Bluetooth, a lot of them didn't have rear-view cameras. Now, they all have it. The other manufacturers have caught up."
As Toyota Motor Corp. prepares to launch the new Prius later this year, both car and company are at turning points. First introduced in 1997, the hybrid is no longer the green car darling of the Hollywood set. That sort of buzz now surrounds the electric vehicles produced by Elon Musk's Tesla Motors Inc.