_Bloomberg.com: Japan_ (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aCul0CP9Xbuw&refer=japan) (Better photo at bottom) Toyota Will Show Hybrid More Efficient Than Prius (Update1)
By Naoko Fujimura (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=photos&sid=ah2IL.Gq1p78) Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest maker of hybrid cars, plans to show a concept model more fuel-efficient than its Prius at the Tokyo Motor Show as it tries to widen its technological lead. The 1/X plug-in hybrid concept uses half as much fuel as the Prius in part because its carbon fiber frame is a third lighter, Toyota said in a release today. The model runs on a blend of ethanol and gasoline and electricity. Toyota is trying to keep its advantage in hybrid technology over rival automakers including Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. The Toyota City-based company will also unveil a gasoline-electric version of its Crown sedan, which will go into production, and a Lexus LF-Xh hybrid sport-utility vehicle. ``Those concept models show Toyota's future strategy,'' said Hirofumi Yokoi, a Tokyo-based analyst at CSM Worldwide, a U.S. consulting company. Japanese automakers are speeding up new model releases to help stem a two-year slump in auto demand at home. Toyota has introduced 10 new or revamped models in Japan so far this year, compared with eight in all of 2006. The 1/X can be charged at a household outlet and uses an on- board engine to generate electricity when the battery runs down during travel. Toyota fell 0.9 percent to 6,700 yen as of the 11 a.m. trading break on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nissan The company aims to raise sales of hybrids to 1 million vehicles a year in the early 2010s. Toyota and other Japanese automakers will also use the show to exhibit new models released this year. Toyota's models include the Corolla Rumion wagon unveiled yesterday and the Mark X Zio minivan introduced in September. Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, will release the Fit compact car, its best-selling domestic model, a week before the Tokyo show. Nissan Motor Co., Japan's third-largest automaker, will display the new GT-R sports car, which it will introduce in December. The model, which goes on sale in Japan this year, will have a starting price of 7.8 million yen ($66,500) and compete with models including the Lexus IS F. The Tokyo show, one of the five biggest international auto exhibitions, will feature both passenger cars and commercial vehicles together for the first time in 10 years. The exhibition will be open to the public from Oct. 27 to Nov. 11 at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture, east of the capital. To contact the reporter on this story: Naoko Fujimura in Tokyo at [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) . Last Updated: October 9, 2007 22 ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
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