Toyota: Hybrids best 'green' car for some time

[June 04, 2009]  TOYOTA, Japan (AP) -- A Toyota executive overseeing research said Thursday a battery breakthrough is needed for electric vehicles to become mainstream, and hybrids will remain the best "green" car choice for some time.

His comments came just hours after the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota's Prius hybrid was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May, clinching the top spot for the first time -- even though the latest model had been on sale for only half the month.

Toyota Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto said the hybrid system like the one in the Prius is the "most important of our energy-saving technologies," and reiterated that his company plans to have a hybrid version of its entire lineup of products by 2020.

Despite various initiatives to promote electric vehicles around the world, the battery needed to power them still needs drastic improvement and can now offer only short-distance urban commuting, Takimoto told reporters at the automaker's headquarters in Toyota City, in central Japan.

Other automakers, like Nissan Motor Co., while working on hybrids, have been more bullish about electric vehicles.

Takimoto pointed to the plug-in hybrid as a practical option.

A plug-in recharges from a regular household socket, and can run longer as an electric vehicle than a regular hybrid. When the battery runs low, plug-ins start running as a regular hybrid so drivers don't have to worry about running out of juice on the road.

On Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker, said it will start leasing plug-in hybrid cars -- based on the new Prius -- by the end of this year in the U.S., Japan and Europe, but only 500 will be available worldwide in the beginning.

The Prius is the cumulative top seller among hybrids. Toyota has sold 1.27 million Prius cars around the world since it went on sale in 1997.

The Prius is a bright spot for Toyota, which has racked up its worst loss since its 1937 founding.

In May, Toyota sold 10,915 Prius cars in Japan, beating Honda Motor Co.'s new hybrid, the Insight, the top-seller in April, which fell to third at 8,183 vehicles.

Toyota dealers have already received 110,000 orders for the Prius in Japan. Toyota is targeting sales of 400,000 Prius vehicles globally a year.

Dealers in Japan have been so flooded with orders a customer ordering a Prius today won't get it until November or later, according to Toyota, which also makes the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models.

In Japan, a government tax break for environment-friendly cars that began in April, part of an effort to stimulate the economy, has also helped sales.

Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer for the new Prius, acknowledged the perks from such programs may wear off.

"I realize it's not just the appeal of the product," he said. "But interest that faded for cars may be returning. I am not that pessimistic."

[Associated Press; By YURI KAGEYAMA]

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