BUSINESS INFORMATION - Toyota Motor Corp.., Tuesday, introducing a new luxury hybrid sedan, "Sai"

BUSINESS INFORMATION - Toyota Motor Corp.., Tuesday, introducing a new luxury hybrid sedan, "Sai", which aims to maintain its position as a major milestone in the production of environmentally friendly vehicles.

New vehicles, which will only be sold in Japan since December 7 is powered compact sedan and 2.4 liters of fuel-efficient per liter can cover the distance as far as 23 miles, compared to the third generation Prius to travel 38 kilometers to a liter.

This is the second Toyota brand vehicles are only available in hybrid form, after the Prius.

"If you do not carry a hybrid engine, the sedan this size would require fuel twice as much," said Shigeru Nakagawa, Toyota project manager reported the AFP.

Sai will be labeled starting price of 3.38 million yen (37,225 U.S. dollars), compared prius sold 2.05 million yen, the company said.

Toyota wants to sales "Sai" as many as 3000 vehicles a month. The company sold 31,758 Prius in September, helped by the government suspension of tax and subsidies for vehicle fuel efficiency.

Largest auto producer in the world it is a pioneer of hybrid cars, which run with a combination of gasoline and electricity and have a strong demand because of concerns about global warming.

Toyota said last month that sales of hybrid vehicles launched since 1997 in the world reached a peak of two million units. The company also sells the Lexus sedan that is only available in the form of hybrid.