Toyota Will Nearly Double Prius Production

Toyota says it will boost Prius production by 70 percent in 2009, after releasing its redesign next year. That would lift production of the extremely popular hybrid to 480,000 units per year. Currently, most Priuses are assembled at the company's Tsutsumi plant in central Japan. A small number of Priuses were manufactured in China last year. The company says it will shift production of a minivan to another facility to accommodate the expanded production goals.

Toyota also recently announced production shifts at its US facilities, as well as production cuts for its larger Tundra, Sequoia and Highlander vehicles. The company has also announced that it will introduce a second hybrid-only model. Analysts speculate that the new hybrid will be unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January. Toyota has said that it will also offer a cosmetically different version of the new hybrid for buyers of its Lexus line.

In 2007, the company sold more than 280,000 Priuses worldwide, but has been hampered by battery production problems for most of 2008. The company will also produce Priuses at a production facility scheduled to open in Mississippi in 2010. Toyota has said that it plans to sell 1,000,000 Prius units worldwide sometime after 2010.

Source: Reuters