Toyota Planning to Mass Produce Plug-in Vehicles by 2012

Toyota has revealed a plan that will slowly disseminate the number of hybrids in the market, starting with the lease of 500 plug-in cars for the government and corporations while likewise stating that they will employ a mass production of the said vehicles by 2012. We are all aware that plug-ins are the better option when it comes to addressing transport and environmental problems and more importantly, this is the demand forecasted in the coming years.

To date, Toyota will aim to produce 20,000 to 30,000 unit by 2012, expecting the demand for these vehicles to balloon in the coming years. Toyota wants to price its plug-in hybrids at a comparable price to Mitsubishi Motors Corp’s all-electric car, which debuts this month to fleet customers in Japan at 4.59 million yen ($47,800) before government subsidies.

Toyota’s new Prius gasoline-electric hybrid costs less than half that, starting at 2.05 million yen in Japan. Toyota’s plug-ins will be able to run 20-30 km (12.4-18.6 miles) on battery power alone at full charge, the paper said.

(Source) Asia One

Tags: battery power, Cars, comparable price, corporations, electric car, environmental problems, fleet customers, gasoline, government subsidies, Japan, mass production, Mitsubishi, mitsubishi motors, mitsubishi motors corp, plug in hybrids, plug ins, Prius, Toyota