Toyota Considers Building Some Hybrids in U.S.
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering building some of its popular Prius gas-electric hybrid sedans in the U.S. because production in Japan has not kept up with global demand for the car, a top executive said Wednesday.
Using a Toyota factory here to build the Prius as well as other Toyota and Lexus hybrids now in the pipeline “does make sense,” said James Press, executive vice president of Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA.
Toyota last month said it was increasing global production of the Prius by 50%, to 15,000 units a month, and would double annual shipments to the U.S. to 100,000 units next year. “But we like to build our vehicles where we sell them,” said Toyota Motor Sales spokesman Xavier Dominicis.
If hybrids were built at one of Toyota’s U.S. plants -- located in Fremont in Northern California, Georgetown, Ky., and Princeton, Ind. -- it could help ease a shortage for the gas-stingy sedan. In some U.S. cities there is up to a one-year wait to take delivery of a Prius.
The Prius augments a small four-cylinder gasoline engine with a powerful electric motor that serves as a sort of supercharger when additional acceleration is needed. The Prius hybrid system also can run in all-electric mode at very low speeds and shuts down the gas engine when the car is at stop signs. In real-world use drivers are reporting average fuel economy of 42 to 50 miles per gallon.
Press and other Toyota Motor Sales executives have said they expect to sell 50,000 Prius cars in the U.S. this year and could sell 100,000 if they could get that many. Toyota sold 24,627 hybrids in the U.S. in 2003.
The company introduced the Prius in the United States in 2000. The car got bigger and more powerful in a 2004 redesign and features a more futuristic body style.
Toyota’s Lexus luxury division will introduce a hybrid version of its RX330 sport utility vehicle, to be called the RX400h, early next year. A hybrid Toyota Highlander SUV will follow and a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry sedan also is in the works.
Honda Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. also sell hybrids. Ford’s, a gas-electric version of its Escape SUV, is the first hybrid sport utility. Honda sells the two-seat Insight and Civic Hybrid sedan and is about to begin sales of an Accord Hybrid, but all three are built in Japan.
Press, speaking in Michigan, told Bloomberg Television that he hoped Toyota would “make an announcement soon” about a U.S. production site.
Dominicis added that he wouldn’t expect a decision until sometime next year.
Toyota’s plants in Kentucky and Indiana would be the most likely sites, company insiders said. The Northern California plant, a joint venture with General Motors Corp., is operating at capacity with production of the Toyota Corolla sedan and Tacoma pickup and the Pontiac Vibe sports wagon.
