Toyota plug-in hybrid plan awaiting timetable
- Source: Global Times
- [08:19 December 02 2010]
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By Chen Xiaomin
Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corp said the company hopes to introduce plug-in hybrids to China in the near future, but the timetable on when that will happen remains unclear.
"Toyota hopes to introduce the plug-in hybrid to China as early as possible. Yet right now we have no plans on when to localize in the country," Niu Yu, Beijing-based Toyota China spokesman, told the Global Times.
Japan's Nikkei business daily said Wednesday the Prius plug-in hybrid will make its market debut worldwide in early 2012, when Toyota's China joint venture with State-owned China FAW Group Corp begins assembling plug-in hybrids.
The world's largest automaker and biggest seller of hybrid-electric automobiles announced in October it would test 15 Prius plug-in hybrids on the streets of Tianjin city for a year.
Similar tests are also under way in Japan, the US and France. Plug-ins can be recharged by connecting to an external power source.
Toyota began assembling hybrid Prius vehicles in Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co in 2005, but halted production last year due to its bleak market performance.
Local media reports quoted senior executives from FAW Toyota Motor Co as saying last year the company planned to put a new version of the hybrid Prius into market this May, yet that plan failed to materialize.
Toyota China spokesman Niu said work still needs to be done before the second generation Prius is launched in the market. He declined to explain why previous plans had been sidetracked.
Toyota started sales of its locally produced hybrid Camry, which are manufactured with Guangzhou Toyota, back in April. Sluggish sales have forced many dealers across the country to offer discounts.
Sales staff at a Beijing Toyota dealer said hybrid Camry prices have been cut by 56,000 yuan ($8,404) to sell at the reduced sticker price of 299,800 yuan ($44,994). Du Fangci, assistant secretary general of the China Association of Auto Manufacturers, told the Global Times that potential car buyers in China are willing to switch to green vehicles, but not at an exorbitant price.
Toyota recently announced plans to spend $234 million on a research center near Shanghai, focusing on hybrid battery technologies.
