Toyota Fuel Cell Models by 2015

Toyota continues its efforts to make the company's product lineup greener and confirmed, through the voice of the new president Akio Toyoda, that fuel cell vehicles are on the table for 2015. Toyoda said during an auto industry conference in Traverse City that he also has high expectations from the United States, a market which he expects to recover in the next years and even become "stronger than ever".

"The company was making great progress on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and hopes to make this technology available and affordable for customers within the next half dozen years,'' he said according to just-auto.com.

"I believe the U.S. market will not only recover, but come back stronger than ever. In fact, with 250m vehicles on the road and the best population growth in the developed world, the United States will serve as a major engine of growth for automakers for many years to come," Toyoda added.

The new Toyota president also confirmed that the Japanese manufacturer will debut an electric car in 2012, with media reports hinting that Toyoda was talking about the electric iQ. According to some preliminary specifications, the new iQ will have a range of approximately 150 km (93 miles) and will need around 8 hours to completely recharge its batteries.

"We wanted to position the iQ as premium, but not so the BEV," iQ’s chief engineer, Hiroki Nakajima, said in July when talking about the first electric car to be launched by Toyota. "In every wheel we had to be able to fit an electric motor. Our target is for customers to be able to charge it completely during the night."