Toyota: We'll lead the way for fuel-efficient future

DETROIT -- Toyota Motor Corp. is calling for a collaborative effort involving automakers, government and energy companies to bring energy-efficient vehicles to market as soon as possible.

Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America Inc., told the Automotive News World Congress last week that Toyota will lead the effort.

"We must combine our efforts and work together to move forward as an industry," Inaba said.

He said Toyota will:

-- Improve fuel economy on conventional internal combustion engines.

-- Sell 1 million hybrids per year this decade.

-- Offer a plug-in hybrid to consumers in two years.

-- Sell an electric car by 2012.

-- Sell fuel cell hybrids by 2015.

"Rather than putting all of our eggs in one technology basket, we are developing a wide array of advanced technologies with energy-enhancing hybrid systems at their core," Inaba said.

Toyota also is stepping up its new products. This year Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. is getting 10 new or redesigned vehicles, including two for Scion and the Lexus LFA, a luxury supercar.

Inaba, 63, also hopes that a new entry-level hybrid, shown as a concept at the Detroit auto show, will join the Prius family under the Toyota brand.

He also said Toyota looks to bring additional production to North America. Inaba said Toyota's unfinished plant in Blue Springs, Miss., is not dead.

"We still plan to build the Prius in Blue Springs when the recovery hits full stride," Inaba said.

At the World Congress, Toyota received four R.L. Polk & Co. awards for customer loyalty — including the award for overall loyalty to a manufacturer, edging out General Motors Co. for the first time in nine years.

But Inaba said Toyota would not rest on its laurels, particularly after a year in which the company recalled a record number of vehicles.

"Our quality and safety were severely questioned" in 2009, he said. "We learned lessons the hard way, but with the support of our dealers, we will do everything to let our customers know how much we care for them and how committed we are that they drive the safest cars on the road.

"Our New Year's resolution is to redouble our efforts to provide the best engineering, manufacturing and after-sales support in the industry."

Inaba estimates sales for the U.S. industry of about 11.5 million units this year, up about 10 percent from 2009. He expects even greater growth in 2011 and 2012.