The low price of petrol means there is no financial justification for buying fuel-efficient hybrid petrol-electric cars in the US, according to Toyota, maker of the hybrid market leader, the Prius.

Kazuo Okamoto, who takes over as head of research and development at Toyota next month, said the extra costs of hybrid cars more than wiped out any financial gains of lower fuel consumption. Buyers in the US would have to want to help the environment, not just save money. In Japan and Europe, the extra costs were approximately balanced by fuel savings.