Click on the photo for the Toyota Hybrid-X concept gallery
With a new third-generation generation of the Toyota Prius due to be released sometime in 2008, it looks like the lineup is going to expand. Rather than just one car, there is expected to be a smaller Yaris sized model, a second model similar in size to the current Prius and a third larger model. Between these three cars and the rest of the Toyota and Lexus hybrids, they expect to reach one million annual hybrid sales by sometime around 2010. By the time that happens Toyota expects to have reduced the cost of the hybrid system to parity with conventional drivetrains. If Toyota can achieve that they should be able sell a lot more hybrids without having to depend on tax credits which are being phased out on some hybrid models.
[Source: Reuters and Automobile]
1. Few comments 1) Smaller than the Prius!? Wow, I thought the Prius was already pretty small, I can't imagine a smaller car than that. Yaris doesn't seem that much smaller to me. 2) I hate the Hybrid-X concept and hope they were playing fantasy and not actually planning on using this for inspiration designing their production model.
Posted at 5:06PM on May 11th 2007 by Rick