Dec 30th, 2009 by Ross Edwards
Toyota has announced that it will reveal its newest car, a subcompact hybrid, on Jan. 11, the first day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Toyota subcompact hybrid’s name has not been announced yet, but Toyota has expressed interest in using the Prius name for a line of cars rather than just one. Pricing is also secret, but expect it to be significantly less than the Prius’ $22,400 base price.
Accoring to The Detroit News, the subcompact Toyota hybrid is scheduled to be built starting in late 2011 for a U.S. release in early 2012.
The Toyota subcompact hybrid will likely have even better gas mileage than the Prius, which gets 51-mpg in city driving. Toyota’s new hybrid will definitely beat the gas mileage of the other cars in the subcompact segment like the smart fortwo, Nissan Versa, Hyundai Accent and Toyota’s own Yaris, though it will probably cost more than any of those.
Toyota had a rough year in 2009. Massive recalls marred the company’s reputation for reliability and safety. A new, tiny hybrid car will remind customers that Toyota is the world leader in hybrid technology. If the new hybrid car is popular, it could also help Toyota make more money on all of its hybrid models by spreading the cost of the technology over more models. Eventually, Toyota plans to have a hybrid option available for every car in its lineup.
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