Toyota leads the world in sales of petrol-electric hybrids by a huge margin. Yet the Japanese giant has been caught out by the pace of development of some of its competitors. Particularly in the areas of plug-in cars as well as those whose operation is purely on electric power.

The Toyota Prius was designed back in the late 1990s to only use its electric motor in very limited situations to supplement the petrol engine. The big advantage of the Prius system was its ability to recover energy under braking and deceleration.

Oddly enough, many people thought of the Toyota Prius as being a plug-in electric vehicle of the same type as being offered by Mitsubishi in its i-MiEV. While the Toyota runs about 98 per cent of the time on petrol, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV uses nothing by electricity.

Toyota is aiming at being the leader of the alternative energy field and has used the Detroit Motor Show to make several major announcements.

Firstly, a plug-in Toyota Prius hybrid has been developed and is currently undergoing tests in many countries, including Australia, with five currently on our roads. The plug-in Prius will be similar to the vehicle that’s been on sale here since 2009, but will use a new design of lithium-ion battery that will give it range of about 20 kilometres on electricity alone. The battery can be charged in about 100 minutes.

Naturally the Prius hybrid plug-in can also be ‘recharged’ with petrol, where a stop of two or three minutes will give it a range of about 600 kilometres. Much as we feel electric vehicles are the way of the longterm future, there are still huge advantages in petrol/diesel engines...

Secondly, the Prius v (‘v’ for versatility) will be built on the same platform as the standard Prius but will use a compact people mover body of the type normally designated as ‘Verso’ by Toyota. Inside, the Toyota Prius v has seating for five, with a rear seat that can slide back and forward to vary the interior space. It features a large load area that will make it a very practical family car.

The third new Toyota Prius model shown at Detroit Motor Show is the most exciting of them all. Toyota Prius c Concept (‘c’ for city-centric) is a small vehicle aimed at singles or couples who want a round town vehicle that can do the occasional country run. Details are sketchy at this stage.

Toyota Australia says there are no specific plans to launch these vehicles in this country. However, the fact that five Prius Plug-in cars are already being trialled on our roads suggests the company is pretty serious about Australian imports. We will keep you in touch with developments.