Toyota Targets 2012 for Plug-in Prius

Irv Miller told reporters at a conference in LA "The target is 2012 to be coming to market with them." He was speaking about plug-in Prius.

And so, now we know when we should expect a plug-in Prius in the US. That means the Chevy Volt will have been on the market for two years. More than likely, by 2012, we may even be expecting the second generation (production version) Volt.

That makes it very interesting for GM. A lead time of two years on your competitor is something that they are going to have to take advantage of.

Toyota is being cautious with anything like an EV. "We had a lot of people raising their hands for the RAV4 EV," Miller said. "As soon as we made them ready for sale, that line evaporated very quickly."

Which could be very bad for Nissan. Nissan is now trying to get 20,000 people signed up for their EV, the LEAF.