July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second- biggest automaker, aims to more than double European sales of the Prius gasoline-electric car to 20,000 this year as prices for fuel increase.

``Demand for our hybrid vehicles is very strong,'' said Takis Athanasopoulos, executive vice president for Toyota in Europe, at a lunch in London for journalists. The carmaker sold 8,200 Prius last year. It also plans to sell as many as 5,000 of the new Lexus RX 400h hybrid sport-utility vehicle this year in Europe.

Prius is one of Toyota's fastest growing models, with waiting times in the U.S. as long as six months. Sales of the model, which uses a gasoline engine and an electric motor for power, have lagged in Europe, where buyers prefer diesel engines. Crude oil futures rose to a record $60.95 a barrel in New York last month.

Toyota plans to build 180,000 Prius cars in Japan this year, with 20,000 for export to Europe and 100,000 to the U.S., Athanasopoulos said.

A five-door Prius with a 1.5-liter hybrid engine costs 17,545 pounds ($31,000) and travels 66 miles on a gallon of gas, according to the WhatCar? Web site. A Toyota Corolla hatchback with a 1.4-liter gasoline engine costs 12,200 pounds and gets 42 miles per gallon of fuel.

Six-Month Sales Rise

Athanasopoulos also said Toyota's six-month European sales rose 3 percent to an estimated 514,569, helped by demand for Yaris subcompact cars and Prius. Toyota is targeting sales of 980,000 units in 2005, up from about 916,000 last year. The carmaker expects to sell 1.2 million vehicles in Europe a year by 2010 and plans to increase the proportion of its vehicles powered by diesel engines.

``We are still not where we should be,'' he said. Diesel sales in Europe account for about 44 percent of the total. ``We are at between 36 and 37 percent,'' he said.

The carmaker is adding a production plant in Russia to factories in the U.K., France, Turkey and Poland. The factory in St. Petersburg will give the company production capacity of 825,000 cars a year when it opens in 2007, Athanasopoulos said.

``That is enough capacity for the time being,'' he said. Toyota's plant in Burnaston, central England, which can make 285,000 cars, will be profitable for a second year in 2005, he said without giving details.

The automaker aims to raise its share of global auto sales to 15 percent from 12 percent last year. At that level, Toyota's sales volume would surpass that of General Motors Corp., the world's biggest carmaker.

Toyota will manufacture 606,000 cars in Europe and 511,000 engines this year, Takis said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Fletcher in London at mfletcher4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 6, 2005 12:27 EDT