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Prius redo could be held up due to battery issues

Posted on 28 June 2007 | 0 Comments

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Thursday June 28th, 2007 Toyota Motor Corp. might postpone the launch of the third-generation Prius gas/electric hybrid model by six months -- to the spring of 2009 -- Japanese industrial daily newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun reported. According to the newspaper, Toyota is delaying the launch to ensure quality after it decided to forego replacing the nickel-metal hydride battery used in the hybrid gas/electric system with a lithium-ion battery for the first version of the upcoming model. Toyota and battery partner Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. are developing a lithium-ion battery that many expected would find its way into the next Prius. The newspaper reported last month that those plans were also delayed due to safety concerns. Toyota is boosting production of the Prius by 40 per cent this year to 280,000 units. Toyota sold 186,000 Prius sedans in 2006 and 313,000 hybrid gas/electric vehicles in total. Read more on canadaeast.com.