Toyota is launching a national campaign aimed at building awareness and understanding of its gasoline/electric Hybrid Synergy Drive system powering the Prius, Highlander and future hybrid vehicles, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., announced today.

The wide-ranging campaign will include marketing, auto show and educational elements and launches Sept. 26. Much of the campaign is designed to reach consumers when they're most likely to be thinking about their cars and fuel economy -- while they're driving. In addition, there will be a broadcast spot and print and interactive support.

Billboards, gas pump toppers, bus stop shelters and radio spots will carry various Hybrid Synergy Drive fuel economy and clean air messages including "Commute with Nature," "mpg :)" and "There's Nothing Like That New Planet Smell." The outdoor messages will be set against a sky blue background with the Hybrid Synergy Drive tagline and logo and a note for consumers to visit www.toyota.com for more information.

More than 100 billboards will be supported by pump toppers in more than 1,200 gasoline stations and signage on more than 630 bus shelters. The outdoor effort will be focused in key hybrid markets including New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Seattle, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia. One billboard greeting drivers exiting New York's Lincoln Tunnel will read "Miles and miles and miles per gallon."

There also will be 60- and 30-second versions of a broadcast spot for television and movie theaters. The broadcast spot asks the question "What if the air was clean again?" and will break on television Sept. 26 during premiere week. The 60-second version also will appear in nearly 1,500 theaters and on nearly 12,000 screens beginning in October. Radio spots will run in key markets and on NPR.

The educational online component will include an animated video demonstration on how Hybrid Synergy Drive works, along with additional information on fuel savings and clean air benefits.

Hybrid Synergy Drive messages will be further reinforced through Toyota's Auto Show displays, beginning with the California International Auto Show in Anaheim, Calif., in October. Customers will be able to view a cut-body hybrid, interact with various Hybrid Synergy Drive displays and participate in a game show featuring Hybrid Synergy Drive trivia.

The Prius was the world's first hybrid car when it was introduced in 1997. Prius sales are up more than 130 percent so far this year and will top 100,000 sales in 2005. Toyota recently established a goal of selling more than 1 million hybrids a year globally early in the next decade, about 600,000 annually in the U.S. Additionally, plans have been announced for a hybrid version of the Camry, the best-selling car in America. More than 10 hybrids are currently under development globally.