Executives at Japan's No. 1 automaker are fully convinced that hybrid cars are the way of the future. And they're betting that growing consumer concern about the environment -- and higher gas prices -- will lure even wealthy buyers to the new model, which went on sale Thursday in Japan and will arrive later elsewhere.

Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto denied hybrids were "a transitional technology" that will be replaced by more advanced ecological technology in the future.

"As long as cars exist, the need for hybrid technology will remain," Takimoto said.

Toyota Motor Corp., which introduced its first hybrid, the Prius, 10 years ago, sold about 300,000 hybrids worldwide last year, and it plans to sell a million hybrids a year sometime after 2010.

Although all the world's automakers are working on hybrids, Japan's No. 1 automaker has dozens of patents on the technology and has sold more hybrids than any other automaker.

The most common hybrids today switch between a gas engine and electric motor to deliver better mileage and reduce emissions that cause global warming.

But Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said the technology for hybrid systems can be applied to power other types of vehicles, which run on fuel other than gas, including biofuels and hydrogen.