Going green seems the way the Japanese Automaker wants to go. Toyota plans to introduce three new-to-market green vehicles in 2012, a company source said.
A battery electric vehicle, a plug-in version of the Prius and an as-yet-unveiled variant of the Prius will arrive in U.S. dealerships in the first half of 2012, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the plans.
The second Prius vehicle will begin the creation of an ongoing family of vehicles that will carry Prius badging but will not be a separate brand. The battery electric vehicle probably will be similar to the electric version of the iQ, which Toyota unveiled at the 2009 Detroit auto show.
Though Toyota may not sell the electric vehicles worldwide, it plans to research and find those market sales and infrastructure on their Web site, www.toyota.com/esq.
Toyota also will launch a viral marketing campaign on that Web site as it approaches the launch dates of the green vehicles, the source said.
Src: [autonews]