TOKYO -- Despite Toyota's image as the world's greenest automaker, the company that brought us the Prius -- totem of the environmentally conscious -- has fallen behind in the race for the all-electric car, according to The New York Times.

Mitsubishi Motors started leasing its all-electric vehicle, the i-MiEV, in June. Next year, Nissan Motor is set to release its electric car, the Leaf. But Toyota does not plan to introduce an all-electric car until 2012. Instead, later this year, it plans to introduce a plug-in electric-gasoline hybrid, and only a few hundred initially.