Toyota will start making the Camry hybrid in Australia and Thailand as part of the Japanese automaker's efforts to step up production of such green cars around the world, the company said Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Corp. said in a statement it plans annual production of 10,000 Camry hybrids at the Altona plant in southeastern Australia — a bit of bright news for that nation's lagging auto industry — starting in early 2010.

Toyota also will start making the Camry hybrid at its Gateway plant in Thailand next year, targeting annual production of 9,000 vehicles, it said in a release.

The announcements are part of Toyota's efforts to boost hybrid production and pick the best production places around the world. And the two plants are only Toyota's second and third overseas production point for the Camry hybrid, after its Kentucky plant in the U.S. The only other country where Toyota manufactures its hybrids besides Japan is China.

Toyota, close to overtaking General Motors Corp. of the U.S. as the world's No. 1 automaker, has said it hopes to sell one million or more hybrid vehicles a year sometime after 2010. That would require boosting production of gas-and-electric hybrids around the world, as it has taken about a decade for Toyota to reach cumulative global sales of one million Prius vehicles.

Toyota Motor Thailand Co. president Mitsuhiro Sonoda said Thailand is the first Southeast Asian country to start making hybrid vehicles.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also welcomed the news of hybrid production and promised Toyota $33 million US from a fund for ecological cars to cover costs such as those for expanding facilities and technological development.

Rudd said the announcement marked an important step for the nation's environment. Of the estimated million cars sold in Australia each year, only 5,000 are now hybrids, he said.

Toyota became the first automaker in the world to commercially mass produce hybrids with its Prius more than a decade ago.

Hybrids popular option as pump prices soar

In recent years, hybrids have been growing in popularity amid surging gas prices and concerns about global warming. Hybrids deliver better mileage than comparable regular cars by switching between the gas engine and an electric motor.

With the popularity of hybrids and other ecological technology, other automakers are aggressively trying to catch up with Toyota's lead in hybrids.

For 2010, General Motors is planning a Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric vehicle, while Nissan Motor Co. is planning electric vehicles for the U.S. and Japan.

Honda Motor Co. is also developing new hybrid models, targeting sales of 500,000 hybrids a year sometime after 2010.

Toyota shares dipped 0.2 per cent to $51 US. The news on the Australian plant came in the morning, but the Thailand announcement came after trading closed in Tokyo.