They are popular in Mongolia, as elsewhere, because hybrid engines are efficient and fuel costs low. The cars themselves are also cheap: according to the ub Post, a local newspaper, you can pick up a used Prius for as little as $2,000. That is partly because most Mongolian ones are second-hand imports from Japan, where passenger vehicles more than three years old must undergo expensive safety tests. Rather than shell out for those, many Japanese drivers buy a new car. (That is the point of the tests, some say: to boost domestic carmakers.) In 2017 Japan exported 30,000 hybrid vehicles to Mongolia.

In addition, the government has exempted hybrids from various taxes, in an attempt to clear the air in Ulaanbaatar. The city is one of the most polluted in the world in winter because of the widespread use of coal for heating and power generation. Hybrid vehicles enter the country duty-free and, unlike most cars, are exempt from an air-pollution tax.

But the clincher is the Prius’s reliability. Ulaanbaatar may be the chilliest capital in the world. On a winter morning drivers must sometimes start their cars in temperatures below -30°C. Cars that run on petrol and diesel tend to sputter and die at such temperatures. The Prius can use its battery to power its electrical engine until the car warms up enough for the petrol engine to run smoothly—saving many a Mongolian from freezing frustration.