Toyota Motor will start producing the Prius hybrid in Thailand this year, stepping up overseas output of the fuel-sipping vehicles amid swelling global demand, reports said Saturday.

Toyota, the front-runner in hybrid cars that use two power sources — a petrol engine and another source such as an electric motor — launched the Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid car, in 1997.

It will make the latest model of the Prius in Thailand, the second hybrid car following the hybrid version of the Camry sedan, the Nikkei daily and Jiji Press said without citing sources.

Local subsidiary Toyota Motor Thailand Co. will oversee the Prius production, with the technology-sensitive hybrid system including batteries and engines to be supplied from Japan, the reports said.