Toyota Plans All Electric Vehicle

Toyota has been producing the Prius for ten years, and has announced that it will introduce a redesign of the popular hybrid in January at the North American International Auto Show, along with a second, hybrid-only vehicle. The company also plans to introduce a production plug-in hybrid version of the Prius to compete with the Chevy Volt.

According to company president Katsuaki Watanabe, the preliminary tests on the Prius plug-in have been positive enough to move the release of the vehicle to 2009 from the 2010 date the company had previously set. That would put the plug-in Prius on the market for nearly a year before the Volt arrives. GM has already confirmed that the Volt will not be in showrooms until late 2010.

Watanabe also revealed that Toyota plans to produce an all-electric vehicle in the early 2010's. Nissan and Mitsubishi have already indicated that they will be introducing an all-electric vehicle sometime in or after 2010. The Tesla Roadster will also be ready to compete by then, and Mercedes-Benz and BMW are considering electric vehicles of their own. GM has also hinted that an all-electric version of the Volt may be in the works.