Toyota introduces new hybrids

Jan 10, 2012, 16:10 GMT

Detroit - The market-leading Prius hybrids will be joined this year by a smaller, cheaper model aimed at widening the market for the brand that already makes up half of all petrol-electric vehicles in the United States, Toyota announced Tuesday.

Jim Lentz, president and chief executive of Toyota USA, described the Prius C as a 'gateway vehicle' targeting younger buyers who are enthusiastic about green choices and quick to adopt unconventional technologies, but for whom the higher sticker price of hybrids was out of reach.

The new model is expected to hit the market in March at less than 19,000 dollars, Toyota said during the unveiling at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The smaller size, along with an all-electric feature for short distances at low speeds, will raise fuel economy even further, actually making the Prius C more efficient in the city than in highway use. Toyota sees the new model appealing particularly to urban drivers.

After a series of damaging recalls and supply problems set off by last year's earthquake in Japan, Toyota suffered a 7-per-cent decline in US sales in 2011 to about 1.6 million cars, even as the overall US market grew by 10 per cent.