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Toyota unveils smallest hybrid

The 2010 hybrid is likely to be a development of Toyota's smallest city car, the three-seater iQ now sold in Japan and Europe.

The petrol-electric baby is the key car for Brand T at the Detroit Motor Show, the first major motoring event of 2010.  It comes exactly a year after Toyota unveiled its latest Prius hybrid in Detroit, ahead of Australian sales and a renewed hybrid push in the USA, the world's biggest backer of the green hero car.

Detroit '09 also saw the unveiling of the first hybrid Lexus, the compact HS 250h, although it is still only left-hand drive and is not likely to ever make it to Australia.  The 2010 hybrid is likely to be a development of Toyota's smallest city car, the three-seater iQ now sold in Japan and Europe.

Toyota has released three teaser pictures that hint and the size and shape of the Detroit newcomer, but nothing more.  And there is no information from Toyota Australia, either about the car or its potential for local showrooms.

"There will be something new. That's all we can say at the moment," says Toyota spokesman, Mike Breen.  "Hybrid Camry is the priority at the moment in Australia."  Not surprisingly, the teaser shots of the Detroit hybrid reveal a car with bright green bodywork.