REPORT: Toyota to build Yaris-based hybrid in France, go on sale in Japan in 2011

Toyota's got hybrids on the brain. Asahi (via Reuters) is reporting that the Japanese automaker, already the undisputed market leader in the fuel-saving hybrid vehicle market, is planning to launch a new compact hybrid to be based on the next-gen Yaris platform and to be put on sale in Japan for 1.5 million yen ($15,760) by 2011. That bargain-basement price will be made possible by a low-cost version of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive as used in the current Prius featuring a downsized four-cylinder engine that may make it even more fuel efficient than its larger sibling.

In addition to production plants in its home market of Japan, the report indicates that Toyota may also assemble the compact hybrid in France for the European market. This news comes just weeks after Toyota officially announced its intentions to build a hybrid version of its Auris hatchback in the United Kingdom. We certainly wouldn't be surprised if Toyota imported either of the new hybrids to the States in light of the success it has seen with the Prius.

It's expected that the new Yaris-based hybrid will go head-to-head with Honda's recently announced Fit Hybrid. While Toyota's interest in hybrid technology is anything but new, the fuel-saving models have just recently earned the top sales spots in Japan and are expected to be increasingly important in over the next few years as the latest rounds of strict emissions and fuel economy requirements are implemented worldwide.

[Source: Reuters]