Toyota Motor Corp plans to increase global production of gas-electric hybrid cars to 1 million units in 2011, twice the volume of last year, as it tries to keep its leading position in the growing low-emission car market, the Nikkei business reported on Monday.
The automaker plans to add about 10 new hybrid models in the next few years to its existing lineup and to increase the number of sites where they can assemble hybrid models, the Nikkei said without citing sources.
Toyota's global production of hybrid cars is likely to have been 500,000 units in 2009, accounting for about 8 percent of its overall production, the paper said.
Toyota has already expanded its hybrid production sites beyond Japan to include China, the United States, Thailand and Australia, typically receiving some form of state-backed incentives to build the fuel-sipping vehicles locally.
