Toyota projects 25% of sales to be hybrids
Toyota readies 10 new hybrid
models for the world market. They expect up to 25% of their future sales --
including trucks -- to turn the corner into greener production.
This is the one I want!
Toyota is working on 10 new hybrid vehicles after seeing sales of the environmentally friendly autos rocket in the United States.
Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said the world's No2 carmaker aims by early in the next decade to sell a million hybrid vehicles a year globally. Of that total, 600,000 would be sold in the United States.
``To us, it's not a passing phase but a vital technology for the 21st century,'' said Press at the annual Center for Automotive Research conference in Traverse City, Michigan.
Trucks, SUV's, they're all on the way.
To meet its sales target, Toyota will have to add hybrid engines across its vehicle fleet, including trucks.
The automaker launched a luxury hybrid - the Lexus RX 400h sports utility vehicle - in April and began selling the Toyota Highlander Hybrid in June.
``Both offer the power of a V8 [engine], the mileage of an automatic Mini Cooper, and 80 percent less smog-forming emissions than conventional SUVs,'' Press said.
Next year, Toyota plans to introduce two more hybrids - the Lexus GS hybrid sedan and a Camry hybrid built in the automaker's Kentucky plant.
Toyota is also building a new factory in China to produce and sell hybrids into that burgeoning market.
Posted: Thu - August 4, 2005 at 02:24 PM