Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. touted its hybrid strategy over General Motors Corp.'s approach, saying its Prius uses ``market-ready'' technology while GM's planned Volt plug-in depends on batteries that don't yet exist.

Gasoline and electric motors work together to propel Toyota's Prius and other ``parallel'' hybrids, Irv Miller, U.S. group vice president for communications, wrote today on a company Web site. GM wants Volt to go 40 or more miles on battery power alone before tapping a gasoline, diesel or hydrogen engine for a recharge.

``Keep in mind that the advanced lithium-ion batteries that the Volt would use, batteries suitable for the long-term rigors of everyday automotive use, don't exist,'' Miller said. When they're ready, Toyota will adopt them as well, he added.

The article highlighted jockeying between the automakers over hybrid technology, where Toyota has a 10-year head start. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has said in interviews the Volt would be a technological leap beyond Prius and help the U.S. automaker be viewed as more environmentally friendly.

Automakers are competing to develop fuel-efficient, low- emission vehicles to meet tighter environmental rules and blunt rising fuel prices. Plug-in vehicles recharged at household outlets and able to run on electricity for limited distances would join gasoline-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell cars as possible alternatives to internal-combustion power.

Rivalry

Unlike Prius, the Volt is a so-called series hybrid that relies on battery power for propulsion, before needing to be charged using an onboard engine or electrical outlet. A working version of the car, with the 40-mile (64-kilometer) range GM proposed in January, hasn't been built.

A Volt-style vehicle won't be ``market-ready'' until the needed batteries become available at an acceptable cost, Miller wrote. GM has said it wants to have a version of Volt ready as early as 2010.

``People have a very simplistic way of organizing things: Toyota, because of the Prius, are saving the planet from certain destruction, whereas General Motors, which produces the (Hummer) H2, is the anti-Christ that's trying to plunge us into the abyss,'' Lutz said in a Frankfurt Motor Show interview today.

``It's totally ridiculous,'' he said. ``The only way we can get out of that is by being more environmental and leading with more environmental technology than Toyota,'' Lutz said.

Toyota's American depositary receipts fell 83 cents to $112.47 at 6:56 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 16.3 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 10, 2007 19:49 EDT