TOKYO, June 7: Toyota Motor Corp. will start producing hybrid cars in Australia and Thailand amid growing demand for the fuel-efficient vehicles in the wake of record high oil prices, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The Japanese auto giant plans to make the Toyota Camry Hybrid later this year in Thailand and in 2010 in Australia by using existing production lines for its standard Camry model there, the Nikkei business daily said.

Toyota aims to lift its production of hybrid vehicles to 10,000 units within three to four years at each plant, the newspaper said.

The Japanese automaker was the pioneer of hybrids, which deliver power by switching between a regular engine and an electric motor. Hybrids have proven a hit, particularly in North America, at a time of skyrocketting oil prices.

Toyota is widely expected in the current year to become the world’s top automaker, surpassing US giant General Motors which is in the midst of restructuring.

Toyota introduced the hybrid in 1997. Production is largely in Japan, although it has also made them in the United States and China.

Toyota’s hybrid output jumped 25 per cent to 430,000 units in 2007 and is expected to soar to one million units in the early 2010s.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plans to launch an eco-friendly electric vehicle based on its subcompact small car in Japan next year, Nikkei said.

Annual output is estimated at 2,000 cars at the start and will be raised to 10,000 in 2011, it said.

Exports are to start in 2010 to Britain, France and other parts of Europe as well as to Australia, Singapore and the United States, it added.

Officials of the two companies could not immediately be reached on Saturday.

Sales of eco-friendly cars have been rising not only in Japan and the United States but also in developing countries in Southeast Asia.—AFP