TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's Toyota Motors plans to bring a hybrid vehicle to the Le Mans 24 hour race in France, aiming to earn the company's first victory in the competition, a report said Saturday.
Toyota, which has enjoyed successes with hybrid models particularly the popular Prius, wants to boost the image of its environmental technology by showcasing it in Europe, said the evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun.
"Audi proved the superiority of the next generation diesel engine at Le Mans. Toyota wants to do the same with the hybrid," an unnamed Toyota official told the newspaper.
Hybrid models are popular in Japan and the United States, while diesel engines dominate the European environmental auto market, Yomiuri said.
To build a hybrid race model, Toyota has to significantly reduce the vehicle's weight and increase its efficiency, the newspaper said.
Toyota last raced in the French event in 1999, when it came in second place.
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