Replacing the firm's famous sports car - which disappeared from Toyota's line-up in 1996 - the new model will go on sale in 2008, and takes styling inspiration from luxury brand Lexus' forthcoming LF-A.

But while that car will use a 500bhp 4.8-litre V10 when it arrives in 2009, Toyota's new model gets a tweaked version of the Lexus GS450h's 341bhp 3.5-litre V6 hybrid powertrain, giving it a unique combination of performance and economy.

With rear-wheel drive and a seven-speed sequential auto, the supercar should cover the 0-60mph sprint in less than five seconds and hit a top speed in excess of 170mph, yet return 30mpg. The mach-ine has already been seen testing at the Nürburgring circuit in Germany.

A concept is scheduled to appear at the Detroit Motor Show in January, while the production version is expected to be priced to match Nissan's new GT-R.

Meanwhile, Toyota-owned Daihatsu has unveiled an electric variant of its Copen convertible at the EVS-22 electric car show in Tokyo. Fitted with lithium-ion batteries and a 30kW motor, the Copen EV has a top speed of 75mph and a range of 155 miles.

And Subaru, which is also part-owned by Toyota, revealed vanadium-oxide batteries which have twice the power of lithium-ion units and 10 times the life of the nickel-hydride ones used in the Toyota Prius.