Toyota is planning to sell a plug-in hybrid car in the U.S., Japan and Europe in 2012, targeting sales of 50,000 vehicles a year at 3 million yen ($36,000) each without subsidies, as the automaker strengthens its green lineup to keep up with growing competition.
Toyota Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said Thursday that Toyota is also planning to sell an electric vehicle in 2012 and not just in the U.S. as it had said before, but in Japan and Europe too. Sales in China are also being considered, he told reporters.
But he said electric vehicles will be mainly for short commutes for some time and gasoline-electric hybrids will remain the standard for green cars because drivers won’t have to worry about running out of electricity on the road.
His comments show how Toyota is banking on hybrids, which switch between gasoline and electric engines, after the success of its Prius, the world’s top-selling hybrid car. “Toyota is working on developing hybrid technology as the core technology of the future,” he said at a Tokyo Toyota showroom.
Toyota is developing an electric sport-utility vehicle with U.S. luxury electric car maker Tesla. A concept model which is being shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show and being planned for sale in the U.S. in 2012, with a range of 100 miles on a single charge.
Also in the works is Toyota’s own in-house electric vehicle, a smaller model, set to go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe in 2012.
Uchiyamada outlined Toyota’s green strategy, stressing that concerns were growing about the environment and the world’s oil supply.
He said Toyota was working on more futuristic technology as well. It will start selling a fuel cell hybrid vehicle, which runs on hydrogen, in about 2015 and is aiming for a price under 10 million yen ($122,000) or lower.
