Hybrid Car - More Fun with Less Gas

(AP) - Satoshi Ogiso, Toyota Motor Corp.'s executive chief engineer working on the next Prius, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Toyota headquarters in Toyota, central Japan, Friday, Sept. 28, 2007. 'The development of the Prius hybrid car was personal triumph for its engineers and a big PR coup for Toyota, which was fighting an image as a safe and boring imitator of rivals' successes. The Prius celebrates its 10th anniversary in December. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

(AP) - A 1.5-liter in-line four-cylinder gasoline engine, left half of the mechanism, and a generator and a 30-kilowatt electric motor, seen under an inverter on right, are mounted on the same shaft between the two front wheels in this model to show the hybrid power train of the Toyota Prius during a press preview by Toyota Motor Corp. in Tokyo in this Oct. 14, 1997 file photo. Placed on the left pole is a gas tank while a Nickel-metal hydride drive battery is placed on right. The Prius celebrates its 10th anniversary in December, 2007. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, file)

(AP) - Former Toyota Motor Co. President Hiroshi Okuda, accompanied by a promotion assistant, poses with the Prius, a gasoline-electric hybrid car, during the press preview of the 32nd Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, east of Tokyo, in this Oct. 22, 1997 file photo. The Prius celebrates its tenth anniversary in December, 2007. (AP Photo/Tsugufumi Matsumoto, file)

(AP) - Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota Motor Corp.'s executive vice president, smiles during an interview with The Associated Press at the Toyota headquarters in Toyota, central Japan, Friday, Sept. 28, 2007. The development of the Prius hybrid car was personal triumph for its engineers and a big PR coup for Toyota, which was fighting an image as a safe and boring imitator of rivals' successes. The Prius celebrates its 10th anniversary in December. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

(AP) - A Toyota Prius hybrid compact car is exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, east of Tokyo, in this Oct. 19, 2005 file photo. The Prius, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in December, 2007, was born out of a fiercely emotional battle among ambitious engineers. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, FILE)

(AFP/File) - Toyota cars at a dealership in Miami, Florida in April 2007. Fifty years ago, when Toyota's clattering Toyopet made its first appearance in the United States, it would have been hard to imagine a time when the Big Three US automakers did not dominate the roads of America. Today, about half of new car sales in the US are going to foreign brands and Toyota, which overtook Chrysler in 2006, is widely expected to knock Ford Motor Co. out of the number two spot this year.(AFP/File/Robert Sullivan)

(AFP/Getty Images/File) - Cadillac and Chevrolet logos at a GM dealership, 04 September 2007 in Oakland, California. Fifty years ago, when Toyota's clattering Toyopet made its first appearance in the United States, it would have been hard to imagine a time when the Big Three US automakers did not dominate the roads of America. Today, about half of new car sales in the US are going to foreign brands and Toyota, which overtook Chrysler in 2006, is widely expected to knock Ford Motor Co. out of the number two spot this year.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan)

(AFP/File) - File photo shows a Ford Motor Company sign on display at the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. Fifty years ago, when Toyota's clattering Toyopet made its first appearance in the United States, it would have been hard to imagine a time when the Big Three US automakers did not dominate the roads of America. Today, about half of new car sales in the US are going to foreign brands and Toyota, which overtook Chrysler in 2006, is widely expected to knock Ford Motor Co. out of the number two spot this year.(AFP/File/Jeff Haynes)

(AFP/File) - Toyota cars at a dealership in Miami, Florida in April 2007. Fifty years ago, when Toyota's clattering Toyopet made its first appearance in the United States, it would have been hard to imagine a time when the Big Three US automakers did not dominate the roads of America. Today, about half of new car sales in the US are going to foreign brands and Toyota, which overtook Chrysler in 2006, is widely expected to knock Ford Motor Co. out of the number two spot this year.(AFP/File/Robert Sullivan)

(AFP/Getty Images/File) - Cadillac and Chevrolet logos at a GM dealership, 04 September 2007 in Oakland, California. Fifty years ago, when Toyota's clattering Toyopet made its first appearance in the United States, it would have been hard to imagine a time when the Big Three US automakers did not dominate the roads of America. Today, about half of new car sales in the US are going to foreign brands and Toyota, which overtook Chrysler in 2006, is widely expected to knock Ford Motor Co. out of the number two spot this year.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan)