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Toyota Motor Corporation is ready to produce hybrid cars in Australia and Thailand amid growing global demand for energy efficient vehicles in the wake of rising fuel prices. Hybrid vehicles, which save on gas by switching between a gasoline engine and electric motor, are growing increasingly popular owing to growing fears of global warming and fuel price hike.
The Japanese auto giant aims to lift its production of hybrid vehicles to 10, 000 units within three to four years. Toyota will roll out the hybrid version of the popular Camry sedan in Thailand at the end of 2009 and in Australia by 2010. The Japanese automobile manufacture is the pioneer of hybrids, which have proven a hit particularly in North America at the time of sky rocketing oil prices.
Toyota after nearly a decade, recently reached the cumulative sales of 1 million for Prius, the world’s first mass produced gas-electric hybrid. The US is the most popular global market for Prius, where the demand for small cars is swelling. California, which has the toughest emission regulations in the world, is keen to make Prius popular there. The Japanese auto giant started the manufacture of hybrids in 1997 in Japan. Now other automakers, including General Motors Corp. and Honda Motor Co., are trying to catch up with Toyota in manufacturing of hybrids.
