Toyota rolls out its first Camry hybrid

Toyota rolls out its first Camry hybrid

Ambitious sales goal set for '07

GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- Toyota Motor Corp. expects to sell 290,000 hybrid vehicles in the United States next year across its Toyota and Lexus brands, a top Toyota sales executive said Thursday as the company marked North American production of a hybrid version of the Camry.

If Toyota hits its goal, the Japanese automaker should easily extend its lead in the U.S. hybrid market.

Hybrid sales across all auto companies this year are expected to hit 266,000 vehicles, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

Don Esmond, senior vice president for automotive operations for Toyota's U.S. sales arm, said Toyota is building production to meet what it sees as a growing demand for hybrids. The Toyota Prius, the top-selling hybrid in the United States with sales of 80,939 so far this year, will more than triple its 2004 sales this year.

"When we came out with the Prius, people were skeptical," Esmond said. "But guess what? The consumer has voted."

Hybrid sales still account for less than 2% of all auto sales in the U.S. market, but Toyota is making moves to push its own hybrid numbers up.

On Thursday, Toyota celebrated the first Camry hybrid to come off the line at its Georgetown, Ky., plant, where it also makes the standard Camry. Since spring, Toyota has been importing a Camry hybrid to the United States from a Japanese plant that also makes the Prius.

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