Toyota to launch green-car barrage in 2012

Japan--Toyota plans to introduce three new-to-market green vehicles in 2012, a company source says.

An electric vehicle, a plug-in version of the Prius hybrid and an as-yet-unveiled variant of the Prius will arrive in U.S. dealerships in the first half of 2012, said the source, who spoke last week on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the plans.

The second Prius vehicle will begin the creation of an ongoing family of vehicles that will carry Prius badging but will not be a separate brand. The electric vehicle probably will be similar to the electric version of the iQ, which Toyota unveiled at the 2009 Detroit auto show.

Toyota may sell the electric vehicle only in markets that provide sufficient infrastructure to support the vehicle. It plans to track those markets' sales and infrastructure progress on the Web site toyota.com/esq.

Toyota also will launch a viral marketing campaign on that site as it approaches the launch dates of the green vehicles, the source said.