Toyota readies less costly hybrid cars

Toyota now plans to double its production capacity for hybrid systems from the current 300 000 units a year to help halve the gap in cost between traditional gasoline (petrol) and hybrid engines, the Asahi Shimbun said.

It also plans to reduce the weight of the system, which it will use on most of its mid-size or larger vehicles to attract more customers, the daily said without citing sources.

The company will also start producing key components of the system in the United States, it said.

The Japanese carmaker has scored a big success since it first launched a Prius hybrid car powered by a combination gasoline and electric engine in 1997. The current systems used are a second generation launched in 2003.

Toyota would not confirm the report.

"We have been pushing ahead with the development of a third-generation system but it has not been decided when it will be put in use," a company spokeswoman said, adding that the year 2008 could be "one possibility."

Toyota has sold 491 900 hybrid vehicles worldwide since 1997, with January-September sales this year already reaching 173 400 against 134 700 for the whole of 2004.

Toyota is also to start its first overseas production of hybrid vehicles this year in China.