“Later this year, we will launch a plug-in hybrid for fleet customers, followed by a pure electric vehicle in 2012,” Toyoda said at a Center for Automotive Research conference in Traverse City, Mich.
“We're also making great progress on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and hope to make this technology available and affordable for customers within the next half-dozen years,” he added.
Fuel-cell vehicles run on electric motors, using power generated by a chemical reaction between oxygen in the air and hydrogen. The process doesn't produce any harmful tailpipe emissions, but generating hydrogen can be energy intensive.
“I see an auto industry set to make its biggest transformation in 100 years,” Toyoda said in his first North American speech since becoming president in June of the company founded by his grandfather.
To get through its tough patch, he said the industry will need “fresh thinking, new approaches, taking another look at customers' needs, and delivering just what the customer wants and society needs.”
Toyota and General 
“As to the status of NUMMI today, GM's decision to withdraw from the joint venture” has created extreme difficulties for the Japanese automaker, Toyoda said.
Toyoda also announced plans for an affordable sports car — a joint venture with Subaru — that would be launched within a few years. Toyoda did not provide details of plans for the car.
Dow Jones Newswires and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment