Toyota said to plan Mirai as name for $69,000 fuel-cell vehicle

Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to name its $69,000 fuel-cell car Mirai, the Japanese word for future, a person familiar with the decision said.

The person asked not to be identified because the decision hasn't been made public. The name of the car will be unveiled closer to when it goes on sale, said Danny Chen, a company spokesman, declining to comment on Mirai, which has been trademarked by Toyota in the U.S.

The maker of the Prius hybrid is betting that consumers will embrace fuel-cell cars over pure-electric vehicles, pushed by Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. Toyota plans a sticker price of about 7 million yen ($69,000) for its first model based on the technology, which which go on sale in Japan before April.

With Prius, named after a Latin word meaning "to go before," the Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker remains the dominant player in the global market for hybrid vehicles that run on both gasoline and electricity. Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, known within the company as the father of the Prius, said in October that hybrids including Prius are a "long bridge" to future technologies, including fuel cells.

To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Trudell in Tokyo at ctrudell1bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2bloomberg.net Frank Longid