With the release of the all-new 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid today, Toyota has announced an update on its plans to build a new, lower-priced hybrid. Previously, I’ve discussed a rumor about Toyota dropping the price of its Prius hybrid in Japan to match that of the Honda Insight.

Other rumors about how Toyota is planning to address this new competitor is a smaller, and cheaper, new hybrid. A few weeks ago, I posted about the new gasoline-electric hybrid that may hit the streets of Japan as early as 2011. Today, Automotive News has more information on this new hybrid.

“We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda’s Insight,” Otsuka said. “We are going to compete by expanding our hybrid-vehicle lineup to smaller hybrids, in the class of the Vitz [sold in Japan] and Yaris.” He did not say when the small hybrid would debut, but it could arrive as early as 2011, according to Japan’s Nikkei business newspaper.” Source: Automotive News

Like the Prius price-drop, this new hybrid will likely launch in Japan with no definitive date of North American availability.

Subscribe

Filed Under: toyota

If you enjoyed reading this article... Subscribe to Our Feed