Last week we came across a report claiming that Toyota is making an even greater effort this time around to make the next-gen Camry look cool. The current Camry is clearly a half-assed attempt at doing so, but Toyota is still determined to add some sweet chocolate sauce to plain vanilla. We'll see next year whether that's possible. But now we're getting word that Toyota is planning to apply this same styling strategy to the next Prius.

The current model sells roughly 200,000 units per year, so obviously Toyota doesn't want to ruin a good sales formula. However, market data is clearly dictating that consumers would like to have a somewhat sexier hybrid to drive around. Toyota is also anxious to lose its deeply conservative design image, as further evidenced by the new Corolla. So what could a sexier-looking Prius look like? Some clues could be found in the hydrogen-powered FCV Concept as well as the NSF Advanced Plug-in Hybrid Concept from 2012. Toyota wants more "emotional" exteriors, and these two concepts provide some good hints.