A Quick Summary Of Toyota's New Hybrid Cars For 2012

Hybrid cars have been and continue to be a hot topic among the auto industry and for good reason.

They aren't as harmful to the environment as normal gas guzzlers, and they get a much higher mile to every gallon. The main issue consumers had with hybrid models is that they didn't have a large selection of cars to choose from.

Toyota is changing all that with six new Hybrid model cars planned by 2012. Check out what our predictions for the models that they will be choosing.

The Toyota Highlander is a favorite ride of many people, so when they came out with the Highlander Hybrid model a few years ago it got many people excited. Well, now they are creating a hybrid model of one its top selling SUV, the Rav4. By 2012 we will see an all electric version of the Rav4 that competes with the Ford Escape Hybrid and hopefully gives the 30 mpg the Escape currently gets a run for its money. Toyota developed this car with Tesla so perhaps it will have some of the same functionality as the Prius.

Toyota Sienna Hybridis what the minivan market has been looking for years to find and now Toyota delivers. The only question is: Will the Sienna come before the Honda Odyssey Hybrid, which is supposedly being released within the next few years? The family van market is a great niche to control and by the time the Sienna Hybrid is released, people will be extremely happy to see it.

The Toyota Yaris is currently being developed for the Japanese market, so bringing it overseas to the United States is not a far stretch. The Yaris was a top seller because people are starting to care more about the gas mileage their car gets, rather than how much horsepower it has and what it looks like. Many people are already calling the Yaris the "Prius Jr." which is a great car to be associated with.

A Toyota Corolla Hybrid just makes sense to us. In a market where hybrids aren't yet mainstream as many believe they should be, creating a Toyota Corolla Hybrid can be just what is needed to give hybrids that push into the forefront of car purchases. Creating a Corolla hybrid will put gas-electric technology directly in the heart of Toyota's brand.

The last two hybrids announced are Lexus Hybrids which makes picking them a little more difficult. Currently they already have four Lexus hybrid models on the market and the CT200h should be coming to the US market by 2011. If it does that is one model taken care of and the other might be a sporty fast vehicle that complements the CT200h.