Hyundai announced Sunday that it will be jumping whole-heartedly into the hybrid business. A day after Toyota announced that its Prius and Camry hybrid models would be sold on its South Korean home turf, Hyundai has let it be known they would speed up their mass production plans and counter their competitor at home and abroad. Because of rising fuel costs and consumer eco-awareness, the company is predicting over a million hybrids to be sold annually by 2010 and it wants a large slice of that action.

The first model to undergo the transformation will be the 2009 Elantra, sold in South Korea as the Avante. It will initially run on LPG while a gasoline version will soon be developed for the American market. Not mentioned specifically in the news release was whether or not it would be a plug-in hybrid as had been rumoured although we are pretty sure LG Chem will be the battery supplier. The ambitious plan calls for similar treatment to occur with its other major models, starting with the Sonata in 2010.

While touring a Kia plant, Chairman Chung Mong Koo, let slip, "...We also plan to produce a small fleet of fuel cell electric vehicles from 2012." We have known that Hyundai is competent with fuel cell technology but it remains to be seen whether any amount of refueling infrastructure is put in place to make North American sales feasible in the next few years. Hit the jump to read the news release directly from Hyundai.

The South Korean newspaper Yonhap is reporting that Hyundai just might bring out a plug-in hybrid. The public version of Yonhap's article is incredibly short, but does say that "no decision has been made yet, said a company official, asking not to be named."

This is interesting because Hyundai doesn't even have a standard hybrid on the market yet (they should be coming in 2009 or later, with help from LG Chem). Each automaker learns from the models it makes and sells, but there's a tiny little chance for something unique here. Why shouldn't at least one company be able to jump over the unplugged hybrid and get right to work on a car with a cord?

Related:

• LG Chem gets exclusive contract to supply LiIon batteries to Hyundai/Kia
• 2010 could bring Hyundai Elantra hybrid with lithium ion battery

[Source: Yonhap (South Korea) via EDTA]