Could Corolla be the next hybrid-drive vehicle Toyota brings to market here? It would provide the lower-priced alternative for mass-market buyers currently eluded by the 'technology leader' Prius. And it's not going to cannibalise sales of the substantially larger Camry Hybrid, when that goes on sale.
So, we'll watch with interest Toyota's introduction of the Auris Hybrid concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show in a couple of weeks' time -- Auris being the European name for our Corolla hatch.
It will be joined on the Toyota stand by the Plug-In version of the Prius. Unlike the current series/parallel Prius, this one runs principally on electric power alone, with an internal-combustion engine in place merely to recharge the batteries that power its electric motor.
It has been reported that the plug-in Prius will adopt Lithium-ion batteries, rather than the Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries currently used in the series/parallel Prius and the Camry Hybrid.
According to Mike Breen, Toyota's Manager of Public Relations, lithium-ion is currently under evaluation by Toyota, but he estimates the chances of the battery technology making it into the series/parallel Prius as "high".
"[Lithium-ion batteries] are on trial in some countries in the world, so I think TMC will see how they go for a two or three-year period," he told the Carsales Network earlier this week.
"Then they'll start to feed that technology back to the engineering side and then they'll make the determination of 'where to from here?'"
That was confirmed by Toyota announcing that the Prius Plug-in would be leased to 150 customers for an extensive field trial in Europe. The company has not revealed what further plans it has in store for the plug-in Prius beyond that.
Also of interest in Frankfurt, Toyota will debut its new LandCruiser, which we know as the Prado, in Australia. The replacement for the current Prado will go on sale globally from the fourth quarter of this year.
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