Friday, Nov. 19, 2010

Glimpsing the future: Visitors check out a Honda Motor Co. electric vehicle based on its Fit compact during an automobile show in Los Angeles on Wednesday. AP/KYODO

Toyota plans green-car blitz

EVs, plug-in hybrids set for 2012 launch in U.S., Japan, Europe

The Associated Press

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 each without subsidies as it strengthens its green lineup to keep pace 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 as well. Sales in China are also being considered, he said.

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, the top automaker, is banking on hybrids, which switch between gasoline and electric engines, after the success of its top-selling Prius.

"Toyota is working on developing hybrid technology as the core technology of the future," he said at a Toyota showroom in Tokyo.

He was at pains to show Toyota isn't lagging in electric car technology, although he acknowledged it has fallen behind rivals Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in bringing them to the market.

Nissan is delivering the Leaf electric car later this year and Mitsubishi's iMiEV is already on sale.

"We are not behind in technology," Uchiyamada said.

Besides developing an electric car in-house, Toyota is working on an electric sport utility vehicle with U.S. luxury electric car maker Tesla. A concept model that is being shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show is planned for sale in the U.S. in 2012, with a range of 160 km on a single charge.

Honda's electric Fit

Bloomberg

Honda Motor Co., the first automaker to sell hybrid cars in the U.S., plans to enter the battery-vehicle market with an electric Fit subcompact in 2012 after hesitating to join in the competition.

Road tests of the lithium-ion-powered hatchback begin next year, John Mendel, Honda's U.S. executive vice president, said in an interview Wednesday. He declined to say how much the car will cost when it goes on sale to consumers. Honda said it expects a range of about 160 km between charges.

"An electric vehicle must offer great utility and be fun to drive," President Takanobu Ito told reporters at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday. Electric Fits will be sold in the U.S. and other global markets, and volume "will be small," he said, without elaborating.

Honda has expressed concern that electric cars wouldn't meet consumer expectations for cost and convenience. The firm, which started selling Insight hybrids in the U.S. in 1999, is among the last of the world's largest automakers to announce plans for a vehicle powered solely by batteries.

Honda still sees hydrogen-powered models such as its Clarity sedan as the "ultimate" solution, Ito said.

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