It is evident that Toyota is going with the flow of car demands and apparently the clamor is geared more towards fuel efficient or hybrid plug-in cars. And if business directive is to be considered, that is exactly what the Japan-based manufacturer plans to do as they have announce 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.

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.

This is not affiliated with Keetsa.

(Source) Asia One