Toyota to match GM on plug-in hybrid rollout

DETROIT: Toyota Motor, the world’s biggest maker of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, plans to lease cars whose batteries can recharge from normal electrical sockets by 2010, matching General Motors’ target for introducing the fuel-efficient vehicles.

The company will provide a significant number of plug-in hybrids to global fleet customers, with a large percentage coming to the US, president Katsuaki Watanabe said at the Detroit auto show, without elaborating. The cars will help Toyota meet new US fuel-economy rules early, he said.

Toyota, initially hesitant to embrace plug-ins, is now racing GM and other automakers to develop the technology. The Toyota City, Japan-based company leads in sales of current hybrids, which can’t recharge at outlets. GM has said it may start selling its Volt plug-in hybrid car with lithium-ion batteries as early as 2010.