Detroit: Toyota unveiled a new hybrid concept car that is smaller than the Prius and geared toward younger buyers, part of the company's hybrid and alternative-fuel lineup, which it is expanding over the next several years.

The Japanese automaker showed off the FT-CH compact at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday, and it confirmed it plans to expand the Prius brand from a single vehicle to a family of hybrids.

The FT-CH could be sold under the Prius name, Toyota said.

The plan to broaden the Prius brand is a sign of its success and of buyers' loyalty to them. The Prius, which launched in the U.S. in 2000, has long been the nation's top-selling hybrid and was the best-selling vehicle overall in Japan last year.

"The strategy is still taking shape and obviously it will require additional models to qualify as a family," said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, a division of Toyota Motor Corp.

Hybrids run on batteries and gasoline.

Text & Image courtesy: AP

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