( dpa ) - The Japanese car maker Toyota has announced that it will launch a plug-in hybrid vehicle powered by lithium-ion batteries in the year 2010.
Toyota announced at the Detroit Motor Show that the cars would be sold to corporate customers, mostly on the North American market.
In contrast to a conventional hybrid the plug-in vehicle can be recharged from the home electricity network.
Toyota dominates the hybrid market in the U.S. with its Prius model. The company said it hoped to have hybrid options available on all models by the year 2020.
Earlier plans by the company to mass-produce hybrids with lithium- ion batteries were more optimistic but the company acknowledged that different models required different strategies.