Doctor Drivel ) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying :

Toyota must be pretty desperate if they are having to resort to
deals like this.

I don't think it's desperation, it's a cheap publicity stunt. You
deliberately produce only low volumes of an overpriced, trendy,
uneconomic product,

That doesn't fit because they used a Prius.

Sounds like it fits just find to me.

Interesting that Honda are achieving far, far, better fuel
consumption figures with the Civic in the US, than the Prius
achieves. (Nearly as good as a diesel)

The Civic is a hybrid.

Hardly a "Hybrid" - The Civic IMA cannot be run on electrickery only. It's
only an extension into production of the Dynalto concept that PSA had
running a few years ago.