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According to reports from the Japanese daily Nikkei, Toyota has expressed its desire to begin trials for their plug-in Prius vehicle. The stage for these trials is China, as announced by Toyota’s executive vice president Takeshi Uchiyamada during a press conferment at the 2010 Auto China in Beijing.
On that same day, the Toyota plug-in Prius also made its China debut. Toyota also made the Asia debut of the compact hybrid FT-CH, the China debut of electric vehicle FT-EV II, and the China debut of rear-wheel-drive lightweight sports car FT-86.
Toyota has already sold 709,000 vehicles in China which makes up 21% of its total sales. This year, the company is aiming for a 13% growth in sales, which means they need to sell about 800,000 vehicles. The company is positive that they can do this despite their recent recalls. This is because the sales have already increased to 43% during the first two months of this year. Toyota was able to sell 117,000 vehicles during these two months alone.
The car maker had to issue a recall notice in China for 75,552 RAV-4 sports utility vehicles. This was because the units had faulty gas pedals. Despite this setback, Toyota continues to develop more cars and remain positive about its endeavors.
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Japanese carmaker Toyota is planning to add to their line up a Coupe variant of the Toyota Prius hybrid. They are building on the success foundations laid by the 2010 hybrid vehicle which is now closed to being sold out because of the very high demand all over the globe.
The first of the additional styling that we might see on the Prius is the 2-door coupe that will target to topple the 2011 hybrid Honda CR-Z sports coupe.
The future member of the Prius line is expected to sport the same 4-cylinder 1.8L engine and Hybrid Synergy Drive set up of the current release of the Prius. The package though might come with better aerodynamics than the 5-door version which already boasts of a 0.25 drag coefficient– among the best for production cars today. The Prius coupe will also be a lot lighter than the family variant.
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Japanese car maker Toyota reveals its commitment to release in 2012 plug in hybrids for mass consumption. The first batch of lithium-ion battery powered vehicles will
be out by next year and will be ready for government and commercial fleets in Japan, Europe, and the United States. Mass production of the fuel efficient and environment-friendly vehicles will be by 2012.
A Japanese newspaper reports that Toyota will be producing between 20000 and 30000 units of plug-in hybrids come 2012. This will be two years after GM kicks off the production of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt.
A plug-in hybrid that was derived from the platform of the current Prius hybrid is expected to go to dealerships in Japan this month. This car will have a tag price starting at $47,800. The car will be able to travel for about 18.6 miles running on electric power alone. It depends on a pack of lithium ion batteries made by Panasonic EV Energy.
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On that same day, the Toyota plug-in Prius also made its China debut. Toyota also made the Asia debut of the compact hybrid FT-CH, the China debut of electric vehicle FT-EV II, and the China debut of rear-wheel-drive lightweight sports car FT-86.
