Solar Prius

Toyota, which created significant buzz in bringing the hybrid Prius to market, but which makes up only a tiny sliver of Toyota's overall sales, is creating buzz once again with a new Prius that will include solar cells to augment the battery and gas hybrid engine. However, it's more of a gimmick than a serious attempt to wean people from gasoline:

Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodeling, responding to growing demand for "green" cars amid record-high oil prices, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday.

The panels, supplied by Kyocera Corp would be able to power part of the air-conditioning on high-end versions of the gasoline-electric Prius, the source said.

"It's more of a symbolic gesture," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "It's very difficult to power much more than that with solar energy."

What this does is actually enable the engine to run less with the air conditioning. It may provide only a marginal increase in mileage and I expect that this option will not be a big seller.