This is what a Toyota Prius lowrider looks like

The new Toyota Prius is many things. It is cheap to run, it is very worthy, and it is also somewhat challenging to look at it.

Japanese tuner Wald International has given itself the task of fixing that latter issue with this really very distinctive body kit. It has slammed a Prius, and we really don’t know what to make of it.

Wald has a long history of tuning the Prius, but for Toyota’s mk4 hybrid, it’s gone wackier than usual. So as well as some ginormous 20-inch wheels (different each side, see, to show off two of Wald’s designs), there’s some extended side skirts and many extra aesthetic elements both front and rear.

Among the more incongruous additions are dive planes at the front – like a Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, or many racecars – and a third brake light reminiscent of Formula 1 rain lights. There is also a massive diffuser, which you could safely describe as over engineered for a car with 121bhp and a 112mph top speed.

Then, of course, there’s its (ever so slightly) dropped suspension. The Prius maybe the first choice of the Uber driver, but your late-night chauffeur will be struggling to navigate his best shortcuts in this when it can’t negotiate even the littlest speed bumps.

Still, there’s something endearingly Japanese about a car tuned to such inappropriate, off-the-wall levels. And one which is taken so far from its maker’s unwaveringly sensible design brief. And given the Prius has rather a lot of styling to begin with, where’s the harm in lobbing even more at it?

We invite your comments below…