A Toyota engineer wants the plug-in hybrid the automaker is developing for launch in mid-2011 to be offered at an ‘affordable’ price so it becomes popular.
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Yoshikazu Tanaka told Kyodo News: ”I want to make the vehicle widely available by setting a price that even general consumers can reach,” adding that people would not buy the vehicle unless the price was around JPY3m (US$32,800; GBP20,100).
He said the plug in version’s price could be dropped further by reducing battery cost and standardising parts, and by setting a sales target of several tens of thousands of units a year.
With 80,000 orders already on the books, Toyota last May launched the third-generation Prius in Japan priced from JPY2.05m, almost JPY300,000 cheaper than the previous lowest-priced model and close to the rival Honda Insight hybrid’s JPY1.89m launch price.
The automaker set an initial monthly sales target of 10,000 units in its home market and aimed to sell about 300,000-400,000 units of the entire Prius range (second and third generation) and a total of about 500,000-600,000 hybrid cars worldwide in 2009. The Prius ended 2009 as Japan’s top selling car, with 208,876 orders, nearly three times the previous year’s tally.
Tanaka said he wanted to make the plug-in version a car that ”would surprise people” and serve as the next-generation eco-friendly car charged up on household electricity.
While the standard Prius hybrid has nickel metal hydride batteries and can travel only a mile or two on electric power alone, the plug-in will have a lithium-ion pack and travel up to 23km (about 14 miles) on the electric motor after a single charge. Toyota said it was superior to electric vehicles because it can run almost limitlessly through combined use of the petrol and electric motors.
Concerning possible effects on society, Tanaka said: ”As the vehicle can be fully charged using household electricity in about three hours, users would be [aware energy is precious] and their energy-saving consciousness could also grow.”
He said hybrids likely would dominate the [EV] market for over 10 years and said Toyota wanted to expand its lineup, reiterating comments made recently by other senior Toyota executives.
