Toyota Expected to Rev Up Hybrid Camry May 2005

Toyota Motor is set to announce plans to build a gas-electric hybrid version of its top-selling Camry sedan, people briefed on the company's plans said Monday.

The hybrid Camry, to be built at Toyota's Georgetown, Ky., plant, would be the company's first gas-electric vehicle produced in the United States.

The new Camry would bring Toyota's hybrid line to four models. It started with the Prius, which went on sale in the United States in 2000. (On Monday, Toyota said it is looking into complaints that Prius hybrids are suddenly stalling or shutting down.)

Since 2000, the company has had to increase capacity several times to meet demand.

Last month Toyota began selling the Lexus RX 400h, a midsize sport utility hybrid. In June, a hybrid version of the Toyota Highlander, another sport utility vehicle, goes on sale.

Next year, it will begin selling the Lexus GS 450h, a midsize sedan that would be the company's first rear-wheel-drive hybrid.

In building a gas-electric version of the Camry, Toyota would bring hybrid technology to the nation's top-selling passenger car. Its Japanese rival, Honda Motor, already offers hybrid versions of its Accord and Civic sedans, which are among the best-selling gasoline-powered vehicles in the United States.

A Toyota spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Toyota had plans to build the vehicle. "We're going to make an announcement, but I can't confirm what that announcement will be," said spokeswoman Mona Richard.

The automaker is expected to build the new hybrid Camry side by side with the gasoline model, which is produced at the company's Georgetown manufacturing complex outside Lexington. The plant was Toyota's first fully owned large-scale manufacturing operation in the United States; the first car rolled off the assembly line in 1988.

Rumors that Toyota planned to build a Camry hybrid had been circulating within the automobile industry for some time. Toyota had previously said it would produce another hybrid vehicle and was considering manufacturing it at one of the company's North American plants. The other three hybrids Toyota produces are built in Japan.

SOURCE: CNET

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