Mini-Prius Concept - Eight new Hybrids on the way

Toyota has unveiled a compact hybrid concept that will be cheaper and more fuel efficient than a Prius and spawn a new family of Prius-badged models.

The Japanese brand's new FT-CH has yet to be confirmed for production, but the company said at the concept car's reveal at the 2010 Detroit motor show that it plans to introduce a new range of petrol-electric models to capitalise on the strength of the Prius brand.

"We know we need to offer a wider variety of hybrid choices," says Toyota Motors Sales USA president Jim Lentz. "This is a car that our dealers and customers have been asking for.

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Radical Toyota FT-CH hybrid

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"We're developing a Prius family to take advantage of the Prius brand. There are more models planned and FT-CH is a concept we are considering."

Toyota says the FT-CH production version would be smaller lighter and more fuel efficient than the Prius, and that it will appeal to a "younger, less affluent demographic than Prius" and be priced below the world's most famous hybrid car.

The FT-CH is 560mm shorter (3886mm) and 25mm narrower than a Prius, though Toyota says the concept still seats four passengers in comfort.

Toyota says it will launch eight new hybrids over the next few years, none of which will be next-generation versions of existing petrol-electric models.

The Prius badge will be applied to a number of these new hybrids, though says Prius won't necessarily be considered a sub-brand within the company as with Scion that's used for Toyota's US range of models targeted specifically at younger customers.

Toyota says, however, that it is considering how it will apply model names to the different Prius models - including the current Prius itself.

It is hoping the new family of hybrids will help establish the Prius name as a global household name as great as Apple.

"I think the best analogy [for the range of Prius models] is that it's like the iPod with the Nano, the Shuffle, etc. The iPod name ... we're not trying to steal Apple's thunder, but it's incredibly strong branding," said Mike Michels, Toyota vice president of communications.

"What's prompting this is that our research shows that the Prius recognition is incredibly strong ... and it's probably higher than any of our brands except the core brands of Corolla and Camry. So we're trying to leverage that."

Petrol-electric hybrids will become the core drivetrain for Toyota and the company plans to sell one million hybrids annually.

It sold 530,000 hybrids globally in 2009 and Toyota is working on having a hybrid version of every model in its range on the market by 2020.