Toyota Motor Corp plans to commercialise a diesel hybrid sub compact car as early as 2010 in cooperation with its ally Isuzu Motors Ltd., which is strong in diesel engine technologies, informed sources said.
Toyota has adopted the plan because a diesel hybrid car will be appealing in Europe, where diesel-engine vehicles are popular, and in Japan where gasoline-electric hybrid cars are gaining recognition, they said.
Diesel hybrid vehicles, which run on a diesel engine and an electric motor, are considered more fuel efficient than currently common gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, and cleaner than diesel engine vehicles in terms of gas emissions.
There are some diesel hybrid trucks in actual use, but in order to apply the technology to cars, it is necessary to reduce the size and weight of the engine and motor, and to lower prices as well, the sources said.
Competition among global carmakers to develop diesel hybrid cars is now intensifying. But Toyota has been lagging behind its rivals in the diesel engine technology field, despite its lead in gasoline-electric hybrid technologies.
Having reached a capital and business tie-up accord earlier this month with Isuzu, Toyota is ready to intensify its efforts to produce a next-generation environmentally friendly vehicle, the sources said.
Developing diesel hybrid pickup trucks and bio-fuel hybrid vehicles is also high on the agenda for Toyota, they added.
Since the 1997 launch of the Prius as the world's first mass-manufactured gasoline-electric hybrid car, Toyota had sold a total of 780,000 hybrid vehicles around the world by the end of September this year.
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