Toyota revealed yesterday (7th June) that it is now in a position to continue work on producing its new Prius hybrid, AFP reports.

The low-emission vehicle has proved particularly popular with Japanese consumers and dislodged Honda's rival hybrid, Insight, from the top of the domestic sales chart last month.

Company Vice-President Takeshi Uchiyamada has confirmed that four production lines at its Tsutsumi plant - which manufactures about two-thirds of the vehicles - are now in full operation.

Hybrid cars have electric motors but feature the ability to switch to petrol when their batteries run out of power - and Toyota is now looking at developing stronger batteries.

Masatami Takimoto, another Vice-President, told the news provider: "I can't say when - I even don't know if we can do it - but we'll do our best to develop the next-generation battery whose cost, size and weight will be about 50 per cent less than the latest model available now.

"It is a carmaker's mission to create ways to drive cars with energy sources other than oil. Crude oil will run out one day."

Meanwhile, fellow Japanese automaker Mitsubishi has confirmed that it will commence sales of its iMiEV electric minicar to the country's corporate and government consumers next month.

President Osamu Masuko told AFP that "in the long run, the electric vehicle is the ultimate form of environmentally-friendly car that can answer the question of air pollution and oil shortage."

Japanese auto companies are optimistic of increasing their market share in the US after it announced new regulations designed to increase its manufacturers' investment in low-emission vehicles.

However, Credit Suisse analyst Koji Endo explained that it will not be easy to convince Americans to change their penchant of buying gas-guzzling cars.

"American customers who love big cars don't suddenly change their taste to replace them with Japanese-made green cars," he told the news provider.

"But the trend of the whole market favouring green cars is a tailwind to Japanese carmakers."

Toyota is currently the world's largest automaker, although it reported a record annual net loss of $4.4 billion last month.

Source:

Japan auto-makers race ahead with green cars (07/06/09)

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