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The Toyota Prius () is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by Toyota. The United States Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board (CARB) rate the Prius as among the cleanest vehicles sold in the United States based on smog-forming emissions. The Prius first went on sale in Japan in 1997, and was available at all four Toyota Japan dealerships, making it the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle. It was subsequently introduced worldwide in 2000. The Prius is sold in over 90 markets, with Japan and the United States being its largest markets.〔 Global cumulative Prius liftback sales reached the milestone 1 million vehicle mark in May 2008, 2 million in September 2010,〔 and passed the 3 million mark in June 2013. Cumulative sales of 1 million Priuses were achieved in the U.S. by early April 2011, and Japan reached the 1 million mark in August 2011. Global sales of the Prius c variant passed the 1 million mark during the first half of 2015.〔 In 2011, Toyota expanded the Prius family to include the Prius v, an extended hatchback wagon, and the Prius c, a subcompact hatchback. The production version of the Prius plug-in hybrid was released in 2012. The Prius family totaled global cumulative sales of 5.2 million units in July 2015, representing 65.4% of the 8 million hybrids sold worldwide by Toyota Motor Company since 1997.〔 == Etymology and terminology == Prius is a Latin word meaning "to go before". According to Toyota, the name was chosen because the Prius was launched before environmental awareness became a mainstream social issue. In February 2011, Toyota asked the public to decide on what the most proper plural form of Prius should be, with choices including Prien, Prii, Prium, Prius, or Priuses.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Toyota Prius Family )〕 The company said it would "use the most popular choice in its advertising" and on February 20 announced that "Prii" was the most popular choice, and the new official plural designation. In Latin ''prius'' is the neuter singular of the comparative form (''prior, prior, prius'') of an adjective with only comparative and superlative (the superlative being ''primus, prima, primum''), consequently, like all 3rd declension words, the plural in Latin was ''priora'' (cf. Latin declension) which was used by the ''Lada Priora'' in 2007. Despite the "official" plural form used by Toyota, "Priuses" remains good English,〔Vieira da Rosa, Aldo. (Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes. ) Academic Press, 2012. p.431.〕 and is the more frequently used plural form. Beginning in September 2011, Toyota USA began using the following names to differentiate the original Prius from some newer members of the Prius family: the standard Prius became the Prius Liftback, the Prius v (known as the Prius α in Japan, and Prius + in Europe), the Prius Plug-in Hybrid, and the Prius c (called Toyota Aqua in Japan). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Toyota Prius」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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