Paul
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From Nikkei:
Toyota to Offer Hybrids
For All Vehicle Classes by 2012

NIKKEI NET INTERACTIVE
April 1, 2006

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. plans to offer gasoline-electric hybrid versions for all vehicle classes so that it can quadruple worldwide hybrid sales to one million vehicles by 2012, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Friday.

The major automaker plans to replace the platforms of its vehicles to make them compatible with hybrid systems when they are fully remodeled once every few years. It intends to release hybrid versions of its Crown luxury sedan in 2008 and its Vitz subcompact in 2010 or later.

By replacing the platforms, Toyota will be able to make hybrid versions available for all models. For its less-popular models, it will make a decision by looking at market trends.

Toyota also aims to reduce the production costs for hybrid systems so that they can be used in low-priced models. It aims to lower the cost by more than 30% through improvements to the battery and by reducing the size of parts. The size of the system itself is also to be halved by switching from nickel metal hydride to lithium batteries.

While Toyota's hybrids now cost about 500,000 yen more than gasoline-powered versions of the same model, the new system is expected to slash this figure to less than 300,000 yen.

Toyota plans to sell 10 million vehicles across the world in 2010, a parent-only target. While hybrids accounted for about 3% of total new vehicle sales in 2005, the automaker hopes to boost this percentage to about 10% by 2012.

While the hybrid vehicles are to be mainly manufactured in Japan, Toyota plans to also produce the vehicles in China and the U.S., depending on demand. The automaker started producing the Prius hybrid vehicle in China last December, and production of the mainline Camry sedan is to start in the U.S. this year.

In the race to develop environment-friendly vehicles, Toyota and Honda Motor Co. took the lead with their proprietary hybrid technologies. Currently, only these two Japanese firms and U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. produce commercialized hybrid vehicles. Overall hybrid sales stood at about 300,000 units for 2005, with Toyota controlling about 80% of this market.

 

This maximum hybrid production will really test how long hybrids should last in the market.

I still can't help but wonder what kind of impact it will have on hybrid sales once the EPA changes the mileage accuracy.