A little over a month ago, Toyota announced that they would soon be leasing 500 plug-in Prius hybrids around the world (although mainly for government and corporate use), but now it’s being reported that Toyota already has plans cemented to launch mass production of a plug-in hybrid by 2012, with about 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles being produced in the first year. It’s the first that’s been heard of Toyota going commercial with a plug-in hybrid car, but seems a logical step for the company, who’s seen wild success with the Prius despite vastly reduced sales of their other vehicles in the current economy.

There’s no word yet on whether the plug-in hybrid will follow the example of the soon-to-be leased plug-in Prius hybrids or will be a new design entirely, but sources say that Toyota is planning to use lithium-ion batteries for the plug-ins, instead of the nickel-metal batteries that Toyota is currently using in their hybrids.

With the Prius ranking as the most popular hybrid car available, it’s easy to assume that a plug-in auto from the same company would quickly rise to the top of plug-in sales, but the hefty price tag that’s expected to go along with the new Toytoa plug-in hybrids could be a detractor (early estimates have it at a little under $50,000, while the 3rd generation Prius starts at $22,000) and somewhat unavoidable because of the high cost of the lithium-ion batteries. With the rough release date still years away, however, it’s possible that the price could come down.

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