The Hybrid Camry, which is being built in Toyota’s Altona plant for the Australian, Middle East and New Zealand Markets, is expected to go on sale in February next year. Today, the company began pilot production with the symbolic act of pressing a giant power button.

The car itself will have a 20% fuel efficiency benefit over the current Camry, which is also manufactured in Altona. Full production of the Camry Hybrid will begin in December in the Toyota factory that has been thoroughly overhauled in order to be able to produce the new car.

The plan, once the car goes into mass production, is to produce 10,000 Camry Hybrids per year for Australia, and 300 per year for New Zealand. It’s the next stage in Toyota’s plan to have a Hybrid model in every car range by the 2020s. In the next four years, Toyota plan on adding another 6 car ranges running on Hybrid power – some new, some enhancements on the current line.

In terms of environmental impact, Toyota reckon that the Camry Hybrid will save $10 a week on fuel for the average car user, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a tonne.

Jalopnik is right. This see-through concept out of the BMW R&D wing would be best served with a side of Tron and a couple of light cycles.

The video above is the official promo for the concept vehicle, which will, sadly, never see a showroom. For more, see Jalopnik, which has up a gallery and oodles of facts and figures. [Jalopnik]

Considering the first-gen Prius was launched in 1997 in Japan, that’s one hell of a long journey for hybrid engines to make it into a mainstream car. It does make you think about the long-term possibilities for alternative car fuels, doesn’t it?

There’s way too much tech built into the Prius for a single post here on Giz. There are over 1000 new patents for this generation of the hybrid vehicle alone. But here are some of the cooler features anyway:

* Keyless entry with a touch sensitive handle that locks and unlocks your car. The key fob (which ironically doesn’t have any keys) uses radio frequency to let you start the car. If you try and lock the car with the keys still inside, the car will beep at you like roadrunner.

* The HUD. That’s right, there’s a HUD which makes monitoring your speed simple. It also lets you monitor how economically you’re driving, and if you happen to be in the i-Tech model, will also indicate where to turn when you’re using the satnav. Awesome.

* Auto reverse parking. Press a button when you want to park, and the car will use its sensors to park the car for you. There’s something really frickin’ freaky about watching the steering wheel turn by itself as the car reverses into a parking space.

* The solar panels on the roof of the car automatically control a fan in the car which maintains an optimal internal temperature. So you can leave your car in the sun in the middle of the Simpson desert, but when you hop in, it will be a pleasant ambient temperature (or at least cooler than outside). You can even start the AC from the remote if you want to cool the car down.

I’ll be getting a car to drive around for a few days next week, so stay tuned for further in-depth coverage of the tech inside the car. In the meantime, the new Prius is set to launch next week for a starting price of $39,900, which is actually cheaper than the original starting price for the 1st gen Prius.

The $US500,000 system works a lot like a car wash, with your vehicle placed on tracks while machines remove and replace your battery. (The raised platform is only in this prototype for demonstration effect.) And it could get you back on the road a lot faster than plugging into a wall.

Of course, there are several reasons why such a station isn’t feasible within today’s infrastructure—namely that different manufacturers have different shape/size/capacity standards. Also, manufacturers haven’t really designed hybrid/electric cars to have their batteries constantly removed. Should these issues be ironed out, we could see a future in the battery swap station. But hopefully, we’ll get a battery technology that charges faster before we rip up our entire fuel infrastructure. [Wired]

Yeah. It’s for sale. The creator, a guy named John, is selling the HyperRocket to make room for his next project, a plug-in, fully electric vehicle. The guy deserves some kind of medal for achievement in DIY. [Jalopnik]

This is great news for HAL’s target market: Its ability to grant its wearer tenfold strength increases during specific actions could change the lives of people with degenerative muscle diseases, or accident victims who would otherwise need long, difficult rehabilitative therapy to regain basic mobility. And with a five-hour battery life, it could be quite practical for day to day use.

It’s also great news for extreme hobbyists, certain factory workers and the children of the rich, who can enjoy near-full robotization for about $US4200 when these things start rolling off the line. The first run, to be sold in Japan, is planned at 400 units, so unless you can make the case that your RoboCop fantasies are more important than giving a dystrophic Japanese child his legs back, you might still have a while to wait. [HPlus Magazine via Slashdot]

This new Honda ad uses hundreds of car headlights to make pixel art. It’s neat looking, but you’ve got to wonder how much energy they wasted making this ad for a hybrid car. Ironic? [DailyWhat]

The BLUE-WILL looks to be a pretty standard gas/electric hybrid, save for the lithium ion polymer battery pack hidden under the back seats that, like the Volt, can be plugged in to your power outlets at home to charge up.

Otherwise, the company is using both recycled and plant materials in the body—you know, because details like that sound great in a showroom. I’ll be interested to see just how snazzy the concept looks in the flesh when it debuts at the Seoul Auto Show. [Jalopnik]

The plan is as follows:

* The Department of Energy is offering up to $US1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce these highly efficient batteries and their components.

* The Department of Energy is offering up to $US500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors and other components.

* The Department of Energy is offering up to $US400 million to demonstrate and evaluate Plug-In Hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts — like truck stop charging station, electric rail, and training for technicians to build and repair electric vehicles.

All good news.

Another thing I’ve realised? After the last few months of $US792 billion bailouts and an additional trillion dollars of various other cash infusions, and an additional trillion dollars going to AIG’s janitorial staff, $US2.4 billion just doesn’t sound like a significant amount of money anymore. [Physorg, Whitehouse.gov]