11/10/2008 08:13. The Toyota Prius, the car favoured by celebrities wanting to flaunt a green conscience, is to become bigger and more sporty, with a larger engine, quicker acceleration and a top speed of well above 100mph. The changes – coming at the expense of fuel economy and carbon emissions – will be incorporated in a new version to be introduced at the Detroit motor show in January.

The decision risks denting the image of the Prius as one of the greenest cars on the road and will be seized upon by critics, who accuse the car’s owners of being smug and joke that the “R” is silent in Prius.

More than a million of the hybrid cars, which have a petrol engine and an electric motor, have been sold since the first version became available in Japan in 1997.

By 2001 the Prius had started to... // Times Online