Toyota hybrids as profitable as gas vehicles by 2010

Updated at 12:41 Pacific

Toyota's latest hybrid, the Camry

"While hybrid technology has raised manufacturing costs, Toyota Motor Corp., maker of the Prius hybrid, expects cost-cutting on hybrid production to make the cars as profitable as traditional gasoline models by 2010. By that point it expects to be selling 1 million hybrids a year (Reuters).

And according to MSNBC, Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president in charge of powertrain development, said "cost-cutting efforts on the system's motor, battery and inverter were bearing fruit, and the cost structure would improve drastically by the time Toyota reaches its sales goal of one million hybrids annually in 2010 or soon after."

In addition Takimoto announced that hybrid cars would account for 100 percent of Toyota's vehicle sales by about 2020.