TORONTO - There's no reason why Toyota wouldn't one day manufacture hybrids in Canada, especially if its new products prove to be as popular as the Prius, a senior Toyota Canada executive says.
"We've said for a long time now we want to move hybrids across our lineup, so there's absolutely no reasons why hybrids could not be built in Canada," managing director Stephen Beatty said in a telephone interview from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
"The issue is, when do we get to that critical mass in the market that makes production feasible?" he added.
"I would say this very aggressive movement toward introduction of new vehicles bodes well for advancing production over the near- to medium-term."
Toyota plans to launch nine new or revised vehicles in Canada this year, including the Scion brand, which has been sold in the U.S. since 2003 but couldn't be bought in Canada until now.
And the Japanese automaker continues to roll out new vehicles that use alternative technologies. It plans to offer plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars starting in model-year 2012 and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in 2015 in its global markets.
In Detroit on Monday, the automaker unveiled a new hybrid concept car that's designed to be smaller, more fuel-efficient and cheaper than the Prius, Toyota's popular hybrid compact.
Toyota said the car -- which, as a concept vehicle, has no official timeline for going on sale to the public -- underscores its strategy to sell a wider variety of hybrids, battery-electric and fuel-cell vehicles over the next several years. Hybrids run alternately on batteries and gasoline.
Beatty said Toyota accounted for approximately one-third of the hybrid vehicles sold in Canada in 2009, up from 25 per cent in 2008.
"It's very important for us to keep up that cadence of new product introductions, particularly with advanced technology," he said.
But Toyota's biggest strength in Canada -- where it secured first place in terms of market share for the first time in its history in November -- is its manufacturing presence, Beatty said. Toyota Canada put most of its marketing efforts into promoting popular, Canadian-made vehicles like the Corolla, the Matrix and the RAV4 this year.
This in turn created a "virtuous circle" where consumers responded by buying Canadian-built Toyotas, which helped Toyota expand production in Canada and in turn poured more money into the Canadian economy.
"Toyota's now the biggest seller of Canadian-made vehicles in Canada, with no close challenger," Beatty said.
Last month, Toyota Canada said it would hire 800 people at its plant in Woodstock, Ont., to increase production of the popular RAV4 sport utility vehicle and Beatty said more increases could be on the way, depending on the strength of the economic rebound in 2010.
"I think our Canadian operations are very competitive and have proven themselves. I think that bodes well for the future," he said.
Toyota Canada expects to build approximately 400,000 vehicles this year, compared with 319,000 in 2009.
The new jobs at its Woodstock plant will boost total employment at the company to 6,500 people, with 2,000 in Woodstock and 4,500 at the company's other plant in Cambridge, Ont., where it builds the Corolla, the Matrix and the Lexus RX350.
Last year, Toyota garnered 14 per cent of the Canadian market, with 189,313 Toyota-brand vehicles and 15,802 Lexus-brand vehicles sold. Compared to 2008, Lexus sales were up 5.3 per cent while Toyota sales were down 9.5 per cent.
