Third-gen Prius to be (eventually) plug-in-able, optional in Europe

Having set out its conservative agendafor the production of plug-in cars earlier this week, Toyota gave away some more details yesterday, confirming that it would offer plug-in technology "during the life" of its third-generation Prius hybrid, according to an article in Just Auto.

The non plug-in version of the third-gen Prius is scheduled to go on sale in the next two to three years with a plug-in version possible by 2011, according to Thierry Dombreval, executive vice president of Toyota Europe. Dombreval also suggested that the plug-in Prius would be available only as an option when it finally does arrive in Europe.

Toyota's news comes in the same week that its Japanese rival Honda expressed skepticism for the idea of plug-in hybrids in general, committing itself instead to the production of gasoline-electric hybrids. We're expecting to hear more from both Toyota and Honda this week as we're live onsite at the 2007 Tokyo auto show, starting tomorrow.

Source: Just Auto