1 November 2007

Toyota intends to sell a million hybrids per year

Toyota Motor Corp. is considering adding new versions of its Prius gas-electric hybrid sedan.

This would mean the company would offer a family of hybrid cars.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tokuichi Uranishi, head of Toyota’s global sales operations, said Toyota is considering expanding production capacity for the Prius, first in Japan and then possibly in other markets including the U.S.

“We have to start thinking about local production overseas,” Uranishi said in a session with reporters at the Tokyo Motor Show. However, in the near future, he said, the first place to expand Prius capacity would be Japan.

Toyota is on track to sell more than 185,000 Prius sedans in the U.S. this year, and supplies of the gas-electric hybrid vehicle are tight.

Uranishi said Toyota is also considering additional hybrid models, and he strongly suggested he favors offering a hybrid minivan in the U.S. market.

However, he said there has not been a decision on the matter yet. Toyota has a goal of selling as many as a million gas-electric hybrid vehicles a year by early in the next decade, he said.