Toyota To Commercially Produce Fuel Cell Cars by 2015 says New President

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said Wednesday the Japanese automaker plans to start commercial production of fuel-cell vehicles by 2015.

Toyota is "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," Toyoda told an auto industry seminar held in Traverse City, Michigan.

The new president of the carmaker said the company will launch a plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles later this year and an electric vehicle in 2012.

Automakers around the world are competing to develop next generation, environmentally friendly vehicles amid a slump in the global auto market during the economic downturn.

But Toyoda also voiced strong expectation that the U.S. auto market will stage a comeback in the coming years.

"I believe the U.S. market will not only recover, but come back stronger than ever,"