Toyota's working on a cheaper, more fuel efficient gas-electric hybrid system that'll reduce the "hybrid premium," Asahi Shimbun is reporting. The company also plans to double the number of hybrid systems it builds per year to 600,000 of the new, third-generation version — which will start showing up in its cars starting around 2008 — from 300,000 of the current design, while cutting manufacturing costs in half. Toyota also plans to start building its next-gen hybrids in the US as well as Japan to save on postage.

Toyota to sell next level hybrid in '08 [IHT/Asahi]

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