Japanese truck makers are accelerating their rollouts of hybrid models, especially diesel hybrids.

Toyota’s Hino is currently the market leader in Japan. Domestic sales of hybrid trucks and buses surged 14-fold in 2004 from a year earlier, due largely to the brisk sales of Hino's Dutro Hybrid light truck, released in November 2003.

Hino sold 1,039 Dutro Hybrids in 2004, accounting for nearly 7% percent of Hino's 15,378 light truck sales.

Developed jointly with Toyota, the Dutro hybrid delivers a 30% improvement in fuel consumption and cuts CO2 emissions by 25% compared with conventional models.