Friday June 15, 7:35 am Eastern Time
CORRECTED: Toyota Aims to Produce 300,000 Hybrid Cars
(UPDATE: replaces incorrect word in 3rd paragraph). TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's top carmaker, Toyota Motor Corp, said on Friday it aimed to boost output of environmentally friendly gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles to 300,000 in 2005, up from 19,000 in 2000. The announcement came on the day the world's third-largest automaker unveiled its new four-wheel-drive Estima Hybrid minivan -- the world's first hybrid minivan -- for the Japanese market. The move comes as more and more carmakers are turning to hybrid technology to develop vehicles that are powered by smaller engines with electric motors and a battery pack. The goal is less emissions of toxic gases and greater fuel efficiency. The development of such ``greener'' cars is seen as the key to surviving global competition under stricter environment laws. ``We aim to increase our hybrid car production by 10 times our current output to 300,000 cars in 2005,'' Toyota President Fujio Cho told a news conference. The company now makes 3,000 hybrid vehicles a month, a spokeswoman said. It sold 12,700 hybrid cars during the January-May period and expects to sell more than 20,000 in 2001. The new hybrid minivan is Toyota's second hybrid vehicle, following the success of its Prius model. It boasts mileage of 18 km per liter (51 miles per gallon), more than double that of conventional cars, another Toyota official said. With a price tag of 3.35 million yen ($27,620), the Estima Hybrid churns out less carbon dioxide, and emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are more than 75 percent below Japanese standards set in 2000, he said. It can generate 1,500 watts of electric power and has standard 100-volt household AC sockets, letting people use home appliances such as laptop computers in the car, he said. Toyota said it aimed for sales of 1,000 vehicles a month. In the first month, the company is eyeing orders of 1,500, the spokeswoman added. Toyota sold an average of 10,000 non-hybrid Estimas a month in Japan in calendar 2000 and more than 9,600 a month in the January-May period this year, industry data showed. By April, Toyota had sold 60,000 Prius vehicles in Japan, Europe and the United States. The model was first launched in Japan in December 1997. ``Naturally, we will export the Estima Hybrid in the future. Probably, the United States will be next, but we have not made any concrete plans yet,'' Cho said. Toyota shares closed at 4,170 yen on Friday, up 0.72 percent, outperforming a 0.44 percent drop in the key Nikkei average ($1-121.27 Yen) |
