Gasoline engines to go the way of the buggywhip?
Toyota plans global electric car launch
"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," Takimoto said.
Takimoto said Toyota had roughly halved the cost of its complex hybrid system for the current Prius compared with the first-generation model launched in 1997, and had aimed to halve it further for the third iteration due out later this year.