Toyota to develop affordable hybrid vehicle (to compete with new Insight)
 

I found this over at cmpg this morning. Interesting. Toyota doesn't like to share the market haha.

Toyota to develop affordable hybrid vehicle

Interesting. I guess the rumours that they'd continue producing and selling the previous gen Prius as a lower priced "Prius classic" along side the new 2010 model weren't true then.

I find it interesting that the two companies are competing to cannibalize sales of their more expensive hybrids.

"Affordable"? Wrong word choice - it just plays into the "but hybrids are too expensive" myth. If Toyota wants to build a cheaper hybrid, fine, the Prius is easily affordable to a lot of people, and a cheaper hybrid would still be unaffordable to many.

jamesqf -

I thought their plan all along was to integrate hybrid tech across their product fleet. Another thing I read (here?!?!) was that they would have kind of a "Prius car line" in the same way they have a Scion car line.

Who knows, maybe they'll make a commuter extraordinaire that looks like a 1st gen Insight!

CarloSW2

I think their "plans" are changing pretty rapidly these days, for a number of reasons.

Case in point: according to this site, Toyota just announced the price of the next generation 2010 Prius in Japan will be about 12.7% less than the outgoing model, "in light of the brisk sales of the ... Honda hybrid Insight, according to the sources."

Stopgap measure to fend off Honda until they can produce a cheaper car (if that plan doesn't also change).

No idea if that'll translate to North American prices. Exchange rates, and all.

Talking about integrating hybrid technology across the product fleet, it would be nice if they can sell me a kit someday to retrofit my Matrix so that it operates with some hybrid characteristics, like a more efficient battery and a more powerful starter motor that doubles as an extra power source to help launch the car after a stop. Just day dreaming:D.

Hi,

There is no word yet from Toyota about the iQ, right? That would make an awesome serial hybrid!