Toyota wary of real consumer demand in U.S. for plug-in cars

LOS ANGELES: Toyota Motor, maker of the best-selling gasoline-electric car in the world, has said that extensive U.S. consumer tests are needed before it offers hybrids that can be recharged at household outlets for limited all-electric driving.

“There is a consumer market at some price-point for plug-ins,” Bill Reinert, national manager for advanced vehicle technology at Toyota’s U.S. unit, said during an interview Thursday. “We just don’t yet know the size of that market.”


Toyota’s caution reveals a difference in approach between the Japanese automaker, which has sold more than 800,000 Prius hybrids globally since 1997, and General Motors, which wants to build as many as 60,000 Volt plug-in electric cars in the model’s first year, people with knowledge of GM’s plans said last week.

Automakers are competing to develop fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles as major markets tighten environmental rules and fuel prices rise. Plug-in hybrids that rely solely on electricity for limited distances would join gasoline-electric autos and hydrogen fuel-cell cars as possible alternatives to conventional internal-combustion power.

Bloomberg