Fed: Hybrid aimed at winning green car market

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2009
Fed: Hybrid aimed at winning green car market

By Catherine Best

MELBOURNE, Dec 11 AAP - Australia's first locally built hybrid car will hit showroom
floors within months in an attempt to win over the green car market.

The first Toyota Camry hybrid rolled off the production line at the car giant's Melbourne
manufacturing plant on Friday.

The four-cylinder hybrid contains a petrol engine and an electric motor and uses about
30 per cent less fuel than the standard Camry.

Toyota says that translates into savings of about $1300 a year for the average motorist.

Describing the hybrid as one of the most significant developments in Toyota's 50-year
history in Australia, chief executive Max Yasuda said it would provide Australians with
an affordable, eco-conscious alternative that would help ensure the industry's sustainability.

"I believe that introducing hybrid manufacturing to our operations has the potential
to change the Australian automobile landscape," he said.

"Hybrid Camry will help the environment and hip pockets of Australian motorists. It
will mean fewer trips to the petrol bowser and reduce running costs as well as reduce
demand for oil," he said.

The hybrid project received $35 million in funding through the federal government's
$1.3 billion Green Car Innovation Fund.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joined Toyota bosses at the Altona launch and said it marked
the beginning of a new era for the industry.

As world leaders thrashed out a climate deal in Copenhagen, hybrid technology would
help reduce transport emissions, which comprise 14 per cent of Australians' carbon load,
he said.

"The hybrid Camry is good for motorists, it's good for the economy, it's good for jobs,
and it's good for action on climate change," Mr Rudd said.

"The Toyota hybrid Camry is an important step in Australia's ability to achieve our
domestic emissions targets and to reduce the impacts of climate change."

Toyota will manufacture 10,000 hybrid Camry vehicles a year for the domestic market
and 300 for export to New Zealand.

The vehicles are expected to hit showroom floors in just over two months.

The Victorian government has placed an order for 2000 to join its existing fleet.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the new-generation vehicles would help secure the
automotive industry's future and showed the sector was capable of change.

"This is a car that is right for the times. It's a fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicle
that meets the needs of a new environmentally friendly, energy-savvy community, and it's
a car that's going to help to reduce our carbon footprint," he said.

AAP cmb/pmu/jl/mn

KEYWORD: HYBRID WRAP

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