All About Japan Autos

Toyota has big plans for introducing all-new hybrid and electric cars within the next few years. The Japanese automaker hopes to “introduce two electric vehicles in the United States [for a total of] six hybrid cars worldwide by the end of 2012,” The New York Times reports.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Toyota’s global chief of engineering and product development Takeshi Uchiyamada says “Toyota plans two new Lexus models and four Toyota models with hybrids. There will be some that are only hybrid models — like the Prius — and some that have a gasoline-engine variant. All of the hybrids will be new, and not next-generation versions of existing hybrid models.”

Why will there be more hybrid vehicles than all-electric ones? Toyota says that electric cars aren’t practical right now because battery life is so short. Once technology improves, Toyota will adapt its vehicles to emerging inventions.

One of the new electric vehicles will be the Toyota Rav4 sport-utility that Toyota will unveil at the Los Angeles auto show this year. This news comes after “Tesla and Toyota announced a partnership in May to develop electric vehicles under the strategy of the U.S. startup company that is known for its $109,000 Roadster,” Reuters reports.

Toyota will add a plug-in Prius by 2012. The company hopes the plug-in will eventually replace the current hybrid model. So far, information on the new hybrids is limited; Toyota has not released specifics.

These are huge steps for Toyota, but The New York Times says that although Toyota sells the most hybrid vehicles world-wide, it is behind the eight ball compared to Nissan, Ford and Chevrolet who already have all-new hybrid and electric vehicles that will be ready for purchase soon. The Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt go on sale before the end of 2010, and the Ford Focus Electric goes on sale in 2012.

To keep up with the competition, Toyota will speed up production. Reuters reports that “Uchiyamada said in July Toyota would extend vehicle development time by an average of about four weeks to improve its products and has set up a team of 100 engineers to audit quality from a driver’s perspective.”

If you’re in the market for a gasoline or electric car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.