Toyota plans second hybrid car brand

The season of hybrids seems to have dawned. Following up on its existing market-dominating Prius hybrid, Japanese auto major Toyota is mulling over strategies to hi the auto mart with a second dedicated brand of hybrid automobiles. A report hinted that the new hybrid from Toyota might debut by year 2009. A hybrid is a vehicle which is capable of switching between a gas engine and an electric motor to deliver better mileage and reduce greenhouse emissions.

Toyota has still not decided on the name of the hybrid vehicle brand. However, Japan's numero uno auto maker plans to sell around 100,000 of the as-yet-unnamed hybrid annually around the world at the outset.

Toyota's Prius had hit the market and set it on fire as soon it was launched. Toyota said it had sold more than one million hybrid vehicles around the world since the introduction of the Prius in year 1997. The Prius accounted for nearly three-quarters of those sales.

Toyota currently offers several other hybrid vehicle models, including the hybrid Camry and hybrid Lexus. The new vehicle is expected to play a key role in Toyota's plans to increase hybrid sales to one million vehicles a year after 2010 in response to efforts to tighten emissions regulations in Japan, the United States and the European region.

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