The Hiroshima-based automaker plans to introduce the CX-60 in Europe and Japan. It will be the lead-off model for a line of four crossovers built on a newly developed architecture for large vehicles that can accommodated inline 6-cylinder engines and rear-wheel drive setups.

The rollout makes good on a promise to resurrect the blade-twirling powerplant after retiring the technology with the discontinued RX-8 in 2012.

The Prius put Toyota on the map as green car hero No. 1 when the hybrid arrived in 1997. But with the fifth-generation redesign just around the corner, the Prius' hybrid drivetrain faces a test for relevance.

Honda has plans for a massive transition to all-electric. But for now, it's focusing its energy of rolling out hybrids.