Recent article in the NY Times implies the next Prius will be rear engine & RWD.....

 

I highly doubt it'll be RWD and I'm most certainly sceptical that it'll be rear engined. The Prius is not a sports car and we don't need inexperienced people spinning out because the engine's in the rear.

 

Anything is possible, but this would be rather surprising. Toyota are pretty good at keeping new models secret. I'm even suspicious the "spy photos" are allowed to happen to ramp up excitement.

Anyway, a new model usually is based on something already here, with lots of tweeks and improvements. A totally new concept is not impossible, just unlikely. Perhaps looking at the concept car shown in Germany last winter would give better hints.

There was a sports car concept shown at a show last year - a possible replacement for the Supra. I don't recall if it was rear engined, but it was 400 HP and a hybrid.

 

I suspect that with VSC, Vehicle Stability Control, and TC, Traction Control, rear engine and rear drive will be less of a problem than having the stearing and "drive" at the front.

Besides which it has already been well proven that FWD engine compression braking, or in the case of today's FWD hybrids, regenerative braking, can be even more dangerous on a slippery roadbed than a RWD vehicle of any sort, let alone one with both VSC and TC.

 

Except for Porsche's, the old Beetle, the smart fortwo and the Ariel Atom, what others are RR? (actually I think the Atom might be MR).

engine braking doesn't upset the balance of the car as much as braking so it shouldn't matter if it's FF or RR (or anything in between).

Also, it's not a performance car so torque steer won't be an issue and yes turning while accelerating is bad, using your analogy, TRAC will take care of that.

Also, with an RR car, you lose all practicality (trunk space as well as passenger space)