Here’s WSJ & USA Today with the report:
Toyota promises that the FT-CH concept, if manufactured, would be cheaper than the current mid-size Toyota Prius — a non-plug-in hybrid that starts at $22,000. That’s a far cry from the more than $30,000 that GM’s Chevrolet Volt could end up costing consumers, even after they cash in a $7,500 government rebate. Of course, the Volt is a full plug-in. – from USA Today
Toyota also said it would begin selling an all-electric vehicle in 2012 as it pushes forward with multiple alternative technologies in addition to gas-electric hybrid engines.
The company also plans to begin selling hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles in 2015 and is moving forward with a proposal to expand the Prius hybrid into a family of vehicles, the second member of which could be a concept compact hybrid vehicle Toyota unveiled at the auto show Monday.
Toyota Motors Sales President Jim Lentz said he just received approval from Toyota’s headquarters in Japan to expand the Prius line into what he hopes will be more than two models, compared with one currently. He expects the Prius family of vehicles to outsell the Camry, currently the top-selling passenger car in the U.S. Mr. Lentz said electric vehicles are still constrained by current battery technology.
Toyota has said that conventional hybrids are the auto maker’s core alternative technology and has set a goal to have that option in all its models by 2020. The company Monday said it plans to release eight new hybrid models in the next few years and aims to sell one million hybrid vehicles globally a year early this decade. Toyota’s partnership with Panasonic Corp. to build hybrid batteries will have the capacity to produce one million batteries by the end of the year.
Toyota is also pushing ahead with plug-in hybrid vehicles as rival auto makers race to release similar models or to build zero-emission, all-electric vehicles.
– from WSJ