TOKYO (AFX) - Toyota Motor Corp plans to produce Camry hybrid sedan cars in the US, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, without citing sources.
The automaker intends to export main auto parts, such as engines, from Japan and will assemble them at its plant in Kentucky, the Japanese daily reported.
Toyota Camry has been the top-selling car in the US for the third straight year, with output of some 420,000 vehicles last year, and this, along with spikes in crude oil prices, helped prompt the world's second-largest automaker to decide producing hybrid vehicles in US, the report said.
This is the first time a Japanese automaker would manufacture hybrid cars in the US, the Yomiuri said.
The report did not provide other details including when Toyota will start production in the US or how much it would cost.
Toyota previously decided to start manufacturing its Prius hybrid car in China as early as autumn 2005, the paper said.
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