Posted by
BLOGASSAULT on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 1:41:06 PM
Toyota is going to offer an affordable Prius to consumers in 2012.
(Via Instapundit)
The world’s No. 1 automaker has for years offered a litany of reasons why adding a cord to the world’s most popular hybrid wasn’t as easy as all those enthusiasts who have done it would have you believe. There were questions about range, reliability and cost. But it seems Toyota has at last answered them, and today it announced it will offer the plug-in Prius in “widespread release” as a 2012 model.
So what made Toyota finally get off the dime? Could it be that the company that made hybrid a household word is a wee bit worried about losing the green mantle to General Motors or Nissan? After all, the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf electric vehicles roll into showrooms at the end of next year.
The New York Times says Toyota has “scrambled to gain the upper hand in an increasingly crowded battle over next-generation ‘green’ technology.” It’s a fair assessment, now that everyone’s jumping on the hybrid bandwagon. You know it’s a crowded field when there’s a
Porsche Cayenne hybrid and even a
Tata Nano hybrid on the horizon.
I like what Glenn Reynolds said about bailoutmotors. The fact is, there are a lot of people who aren't going to buy any kind of GM product until the governmnent gets out of the car business.