Toyota, the second largest automaker around the globe, is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the recently held Environmental Media Awards. The latter is a prestigious event aimed at promoting awareness of environment issues. The gala event displayed a powerhouse of stars and celebrities from film, music and television.

Previous honorees of Environmental Awards include Daryl Hannah, Cameron Diaz, Edward Norton, and programs like The Simpsons, Grey's Anatomy, and Lilo & Stitch. "Entertainment is a potent vehicle for raising awareness of environmental issues," said Dian Ogilvie, senior vice president and chief environmental officer of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. "The creative teams who are honored with an Environmental Media Award are inspiring people to think and act in ways that benefit our planet."

Toyota is the world's leader in hybrid technology. It has unleashed several hybrid cars to help reduce air pollution. Toyota and its other division called Lexus, offered five hybrids in the United States. These hybrids are for the SUV, midsized sedan, and sports car segments. To sum it up, Toyota hybrid vehicles contribute in saving more than 150 gallons of gas in the United States. Moreover, it has avoided over 3 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

Toyota hybrid sales are led by Prius, which has a total of 500,000 worldwide sales in April. For 2006, Toyota is expected to sell more than 100,000 Prius in the U.S. Toyota Prius accessories amp performance parts are now enhanced to boost its new feature dubbed as Hybrid Synergy Drive.

Hybrid Synergy Drive is also integrated in the hybrid version for Toyota Highlander OEM parts. The crossover SUV hybrid with said feature was first introduced at the North American International Show in 2004.

The third hybrid in Toyota's lineup is Camry Hybrid. The hybrid version for the automaker's sedan was introduced for the model year 2007 in May 2006. Auto parts for Toyota Camry hybrid uses 4-cylinder gasoline engine woth electric motors to generate a peak of 187 horsepower. Camry Hybrid is also equipped with Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive.

The Highlander and Camry hybrids are 70 percent cleaner for smog-forming emissions compared to other average new vehicles of today. "Worldwide, Toyota plans to offer hybrid engines in many of our products and we've set a goal of one million hybrids by 2010," said Dian Ogilvie. "We've made a very big commitment to this technology because it gives people a way to drive what they want, but produce fewer emissions and get higher fuel mileage at the same time."