Australia's first hybrid car arrives  

The SMH reports the new hybrid Toyota Camry is rolling off production lines in Australia - Australia's first hybrid car arrives.

Australia's first locally-built hybrid production car rolled off the assembly line at Toyota's Altona Plant this morning.

The hybrid version of the Toyota Camry will go on sale early in the New Year, marking the beginning of a new, greener era for the local car industry.

All three local makers have committed to building more fuel-efficient cars over the next two years, with Holden scheduled to start production of a small car towards the end of next year and Ford to build a four-cylinder version of its Falcon from 2011.

Toyota plans to sell 10,000 hybrid Camrys a year - roughly a third of total Camry sales - and the Victorian Government has already committed to buy 2000 of them. Private buyers may be hard pressed to get their hands on the car, though, as Toyota insiders say fleet pre-orders for the car have been particularly strong.

The car will be more powerful than the existing Camry, thanks to its supplementary electric motor, but is expected to use less fuel than the smallest cars on our roads. It will use 30 per cent less fuel than a standard four-cylinder petrol Camry, or roughly 6 litres per 100km.

The Federal Government has committed $35 million to the project through its Green Car fund, which is also subsidising development of more fuel-efficient vehicles by Holden and Ford.