Chang-Ran Kim, Asia auto correspondent for Reuters reported today after meeting with Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president of research and development at Toyota that the car will hit the streets of Japan, Europe and the United States by 2012.

Masatami describes the car: "We think it would be appropriate for congested, short-distance driving in urban areas. In a way, we're back to where the industry was 100 years ago, when it was moving away from steam-powered cars and competing with horse-drawn carriages. The auto industry is making a fresh start, and that means anyone can join, just like they did 100 years ago, but, while it's not that difficult to make a prototype by collecting all the parts, if you did a crash test and compared the results against a car built by a professional automaker, which passengers will be safer? The answer is obvious." he cautions.

"Toyota believes that in the long run we'll have small electric cars for short-distance driving, plug-in hybrids that run on biofuels for regular use, and on a bigger scale hydrogen fuel-cell cars will survive in the end game."

MPT