. | . |
Japan's Toyota to make hybrid model of best-selling Camry in US: report TOKYO (AFP) May 01, 2005 Toyota Motor will make a gasoline-electric hybrid version of its best-selling Camry passenger car in the United States as surging oil prices boost demand for eco-friendly cars, a report said Sunday. Japan's top automaker will produce the hybrid model of the Camry at its plant in Kentucky as early as next year, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Toyota believes US demand for hybrid cars will increase sharply amid worries over rising gasoline prices, the daily said, adding US sales of hybrid cars soared 80 percent last year. Hybrid cars are equipped with an electric motor and a standard petrol engine, making them much more economical and environment-friendly than conventional gasoline engines. Toyota's Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid car, emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide than a regular car with an engine size of 1.8 litres. Carbon dioxide is believed to be a major factor in global warming. The business daily said Toyota was also considering making the Prius or other hybrid sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in the United States in 2007. In US passenger car sales last year, Toyota's Camry ranked first, selling some 420,000 units, while the Prius controls some 65 percent of the US hybrid car market. All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
|
|