July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Mazda Motor Corp.'s hybrid Tribute sport-utility vehicle, its first gasoline-electric model, qualifies for a U.S. tax credit of as much as $3,000 under a program to boost sales of fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

The credit is $2,200 for the four-wheel-drive version and the higher amount for the two-wheel-drive model, the Internal Revenue Service said today in an e-mailed statement. The agency has been offering tax breaks on hybrids since 2002.

Mazda, a Hiroshima, Japan-based affiliate of Ford Motor Co., starts selling the hybrid Tribute within three weeks, initially in California, spokesman Jeremy Barnes said. The gasoline- electric SUV is built by Ford and is similar to the hybrid version of the U.S. automaker's Escape.

Mazda is the sixth automaker to offer a hybrid in the U.S., after Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Ford, General Motors Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. Sales of the vehicles rose 60 percent in this year's first half to a record 187,533 as average prices for gasoline stayed near $3 a gallon. Hybrids cut fuel use and emissions by combining an electric motor and a gasoline engine.

Barnes wasn't immediately able to provide the price for gasoline-electric Tribute, which uses a hybrid system identical to that of Ford's Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs. All three hybrids are built at a Ford plant in Kansas City, Missouri.

Mazda, the fourth-largest Japanese automaker, has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, California. Ford owns a 33.5 percent controlling stake in the company.

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

Last Updated: July 6, 2007 17:43 EDT