Toyota is getting set to start taking orders for the Toyota Prius Plug-in that will be available in Q1 of 2012. Here are a few key details to wet your Hybrid appetitive and give you something to think about as November approaches when orders start getting accepted.

The Prius Plug-ins will be offered in two trim levels, be come in five different colors, will have additional accessories and options available and we can expect to see them start getting delivered in March or April of next year.

What about the cost you ask? It looks like the Prius Plug-ins will start at less than $30,000. So, who is interested?

Have you ever been about to cross the street when you realized several tons of hybrid or electric car was about to cream you? It’s an occurrence that is apparently happening more and more often.

That’s why Toyota is offering a $149 noise maker for its Toyota Prius starting next week. Initially only to be available in Japan, the hybrid noise maker will be a speaker that’s installed under the hood. The noise will be selected by the manufacturer and will be designed to “alert but not annoy.”

While the Prius noise maker is only going to be available in Japan for now, plans are in place to see it brought to the U.S, market. It will be interesting to see if the American versions will allow for sound customization. Will it be like a whole new ringtone? Will Prius drivers be given the option to blast Lady Gaga at innocent passersby? Only time will tell.

In April, Honda reported that its new Insight hybrid vehicle was not just the best selling car in Japan for that month, but also the first hybrid car to take that honor. But Toyota fought back, and now has released its all-new 2010 Prius hybrid in Japan, and it looks like there was lots of demand for the popular hybrid, because despite the month still unfinished, the Prius shot to #1 in sales, above the Honda Fit in second place and Honda Insight in third place.

The Prius posted 10,915 units in May, in Japan more than twice the 5,079 units sold in May 2008 and compared to 1,952 units in April 2009, according to the JADA data. In the US, Toyota reported 10,091 units of the Prius sold in May. From April 2008 to March 2009, the Prius ranked number five in new car sales, with 70,618 units, according to JADA.

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