Toyota planning a cheap Yaris gasoline-electric hybrid

Posted: Mar 25, 2009
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Toyota has been pretty worried about the 2010 Honda Insight hybrid that is priced lower than the current Toyota Prius and will definitely be priced lower than the 2010 Prius. With competition heating up, Toyota has decided it will produce a new small hybrid vehicle that will be priced lower than the Insight.

According to Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer of the redesigned 2010 Prius, Toyota is producing a small gasoline-electric car that will be a spin-off of the Toyota Yaris.

“We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda’s Insight,” Otsuka told Automotive News. “We are going to compete by expanding our hybrid-vehicle lineup to smaller hybrids, in the class of the Vitz and Yaris.”

Of course, it’s not a mystery that the Honda Insight Hybrid is much bigger than the Yaris.

Otsuka did not say when the Yaris hybrid will arrive but Nikkei business in Japan says it could arrive by early 2011.

- By: The Daily Auto Editor

 


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  • Manda

    Man it's like watching rival gangs duke it out. I ponder how cheap hybrids will go.

  • Pat

    why do they think that the Yaris will compete with the Insight…are they just ashamed to admit that the Insight costs cheaper than the Prius. there is no way you can compare a yaris to the insight hybrid.

  • Bobmarley

    this is good ol competition….i wonder how long it will be before Obama steps in finds a way to tax these new technologies. You watch..first you get a tax credit for buying them…then in about 3-6yrs hes going to find a way to tax you on it

  • zermatt

    Pat –

    Good point.

    Remember when Ford compared the Fusion hybrid to the Camry hybrid?

    Toyota couldn't deal with the comparison and insisted that the Fusion was in direct competition with the Prius. What is with Toyota lately?

  • http://www.carpartswholesale.com/cpw/toyota-car-parts.html toyota parts

    Wow..this is a nice concept..By gasoline-electric hybrid you mean it can travel either with fuel or with electricity as its source of power?If this is the case, it is really a good car..

  • http://www.carpartswholesale.com/cpw/toyota-car-parts.html toyota parts

    Wow..this is a nice concept..By gasoline-electric hybrid you mean it can travel either with fuel or with electricity as its source of power?If this is the case, it is really a good car..