As Toyota, the king of hybrids, embarks on its ambitious plan of selling 1 million hybrid vehicles worldwide annually before 2015, you have to wonder just how they're going to do it. We've already heard that they eventually plan to offer a hybrid version of all its cars, but will that be enough? How about squeezing more out of the marketability of the Prius nameplate?

Bloomberg is reporting that at SEMA Jim Lentz, executive vice president for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., suggested that the company may expand the model range of the Prius by offering a wagon and a smaller, lighter city-car. He explained this was an option, but the company does not have any plans to do so just yet. The wagon would offer utility to the active American lifestyle while the city-car would conceivably achieve even better gas mileage and make more sense for a younger generation living in densely packed urban areas.

Here's to hoping that a smaller, lighter and hopefully more agile Prius becomes a reality in our near future.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Lots of eyes are turning to Toyota these days as word gets around that they're poised to take the top automaker slot from GM over the next few years. With that specifically in mind, Paul Eisenstein from The Car Connection sat with Jim Lentz, executive vice president for Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) U.S.A., Inc., and chatted at the media presentation of the new Tundra.

Of particular interest is Lentz' forecast for full-size truck sales. He says he believes the market will drop by 10 percent by the end of 2006, but will rebound next year when the new Tundra, Chevy Silverado and Ford F-250 are made available.

When asked about high gas prices and its relation to the full-size truck market, Lentz doesn't feel that per gallon charges at the pump necessarily had the largest impact on sales. He believes it had more to do with either the pick-up market hitting its natural level, or simply a "payback" from the employee discount sales of 2005. His reasoning is that gas prices have doubled over the last 4 years and yet this was the only year that sales didn't grow.

I wouldn't necessarily doubt Lentz' overall reasoning, however, I also wouldn't discount the historical impact of high gas prices. The fact that sales figures fell for just 2006 over a 4 year period of rising pump charges could instead mean that gas prices finally reaching a tipping point with the American consumer.

[Source: The Car Connection]