Hyundai set to release a gasoline/electric hybrid plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2012

Hyundai is jumping on the plug-in hybrid bandwagon and it’s going after the Toyota Prius and the Chevrolet Volt.

It’s on.

If Hyundai does push through with it, its plug-in car, which it expects to roll out by late 2012, is set to give the Prius and the Volt a run for its electricity. According to Hyundai’s research & development president, Yang Woong-Chul, the new plug-in hybrid will be based on a concept car it introduced at the Seoul Motor Show last April : the Blue-Will.

Releasing plug-in hybrids is fast becoming a trend these days with most automakers racing to create their own version lest they get left behind by their contemporaries. Toyota, one of the first companies to release a hybrid car, has said that they plan to release 30,000 plug-in hybrids in 2012. Likewise, the Chevrolet Volt, which will be released at the later stages of 2010, is widely expected to be the car that will jumpstart General Motors’ reinvention.

Continued after the jump.