Toyota Auris Hybrid

Published Date: 15th Jul 2009

Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has confirmed it is considering building a hybrid model of the Toyota Auris hatchback in the UK.

A spokesperson forToyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire has said the firm was investigating the possibility, but gave no other details.

The Auris hatchback is currently built in both the UK and Turkey, but all hybrid versions of current Toyota models are built in the US and Japan. As interest in greener cars has grown within the industry, Toyota has targeted the hybrid market.

It was reported in a Japanese newspaper that the new Auris hybrid would start production in 2012.

A new version of the Prius petrol-electric hybrid was recently unveiled in Japan and at the time of the launch, president of the company Akio Toyoda said the future of cars would rest on this model.

The Toyota Prius is the worlds best-selling hybrid and is road-tax exempt within the UK due to CO2 emissions being below 100mg/km. It is worth mentioning that Honda are challenging their position with a cheaper model called the Insight.