Speaking at the European Car of the Year presentation ceremony held this week in Gothenburg, Toyota President Fujio Cho said that he believed Toyota will be producing over a million hybrid vehicles a year five years from now.
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“I can’t be concrete but it should be one million units within five years. With the right cars we can do much more,” he said in remarks that were translated from Japanese into English.
In ’05-06 Toyota will make 300,000 hybrids, including 180,000 units of Prius. The balance will be the Lexus RX, plus Japanese-market minivans and mild hybrids.
Cho went on: ‘Eventually each model range will have a hybrid version.’
When asked what Toyota spends on hybrid R&D, he said, “I cannot single out hybrids per se. But we spend 700bn yen per year on technology and R&D. About half of that is related to the environment, by which I mean fuel cells, hybrids, weight reduction and so on. We attach great importance to this and will continue to spend at that level or increase it. We want to maintain leadership.”
On the sticker price of hybrids Cho said: “It costs more than an average car because of the battery, motor, inverter and so on. But with improved design and manufacturing methods, and increased volume, we have reduced costs significantly. We’re striving to do more. I can’t say when a hybrid will reach parity with a conventional vehicle but it’s our objective I promise.’
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