Detroit Auto Show: Toyota FT-CH Compact Hybrid Concept

With Honda CR-Z hogging the limelight at the Detroit Auto Show, surely Toyota has something to show off too? Indeed, they do, unveiling a compact hybrid concept known as the FT-CH, a four-seater hatchback designed for urban commuting and targeted at a younger audience. As one of the models under the planned Prius family, FT-CH uses Prius' platform and hybrid drivetrain, but is 560 mm shorter than the mid-size Prius.

Possibly a rival to the supposed sporty CR-Z, FT-CH is lighter, more efficient and sportier than Prius, and is likely to be cheaper if it makes production—something that Toyota has yet to confirm. No technical details or performance figures have been announced for now.

The FT-CH is of course only part of Toyota's grand assault on the growing green market. The Japanese automotive giant will be launching eight new hybrid models over the next few years, with the aim of selling more than one million hybrid vehicles in the same time frame. And it is not only hybrids, Toyota has confirmed plans to roll out an all-electric vehicle by 2012 and a fuel-cell vehicle by 2015. Greenpeace folks must be smiling right now.

AboutSeow Yaohan

Seow Yao Han strives to bring you the latest and the most comprehensive information on cars available in Malaysia. But it's never easy for him to talk and write cars in this part of the world because what you lust after is often not what you drive home. When the euphoria of test-driving that branded, super-expensive sports car dies down, he just goes home in his less-than-glamorous ride.