Toyota uses 18-foot solar flowers to market 2010 Prius, offers free electricity, wifi
Toyota Solar Flowers - Click above for high-res image gallery
As part of Toyota's strange but seemingly effective marketing campaign for the new 2010 Prius hybrid, the Japanese automaker has rolled out a bunch of 18-foot tall solar flowers to various urban centers all around the United States, starting with Boston's Prudential Plaza. Next up: New York, followed by Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
According to Toyota, these so-called solar flowers represent the Prius theme of "Harmony between Man, Nature, and Machine." Apparently, they achieve this by providing seating for up to ten people and by featuring laptop and cell phone recharging stations and access to free wireless internet service. Understandably, there's not quite enough juice from the petal-shaped solar panels to provide all the necessary energy for those ten people, so we're guessing there are some high-powered batteries involved in there somewhere.
Gallery: Toyota Solar Flowers
[Source: Toyota]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andrichrose 2:27PM (7/21/2009)
No Plug - No Sale !
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locoyocal 2:43PM (7/21/2009)
further evidence that prius owners are idiots.
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locoyocal 2:46PM (7/21/2009)
I'd also like to give credit to cynical genius's that are behind the ad campaign.
Ernie 2:54PM (7/21/2009)
"Harmony between Man, Nature, and Machine."
Hardly. It doesn't really even qualify for harmony between man and nature. Especially when Hybrid owners make up for their high efficiency by driving more. Until the Prius stops using gas altogether, and manufacturing them (or any car) produces way less pollutants, they will still be doing plenty of damage to the air we breathe.
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Sac 3:00PM (7/21/2009)
Someone needs to tell them that the sun is UP! Those 'solar flowers' don't look too convincing when they're all pointing towards the ground... But hey this is marketing not engineering right?
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Sac 3:01PM (7/21/2009)
Whoops! Now I see some LITTLE TEENY solar cell on the BACK of the pedals. Never mind. My faith in Toyota has been fully resored.
hans_solo 11:06PM (7/21/2009)
You guys are so trendy and greeny. I'm pretty amazed. löl
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John Rowell 11:31PM (7/21/2009)
It's all about the image, and Toyota is doing pretty well on that front. Marketing 101.
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Tim 8:58AM (7/22/2009)
This Prius marketing campaign just makes you puke.
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