Toyota FT-CH

The Toyota FT-CH is a new compact Yaris-sized hybrid concept which will have lower emissions than the current Prius.

With a name that is confusingly similar to the company’s Lexus LF-Ch, Toyota has unveiled the FT-CH – the CH stands for compact hybrid – at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.

The FT-CH is 22 inches shorter in overall length than a Prius, but only around an inch less in overall width, and will be lighter and cheaper than the Prius.

Toyota plans to sell a million hybrids per year globally over the next few years, the majority in North America. As part of this plan, Toyota will be launching eight all-new hybrid models in the USA. These will all be new dedicated hybrid vehicles, or all new hybrid versions of existing petrol engine models, rather than next generation versions of current hybrids.

Toyota is aiming to offer a wider variety of full hybrid choices to its customers, in addition to the introduction of plug-in hybrids (PHVs) and battery electrics (EVs) in model year 2012, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCHVs) in 2015 in global markets.

To demonstrate these technologies, the Toyota stand at Detroit will also feature the Prius PHV, FCHV-advanced fuel cell vehicle and FT-EV II electric concept.