Sanyo, the Japanese electronics giant, said today that it is in talks with six car makers about the supply of batteries for fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles — one of few growth areas in the automotive industry.

“We are talking with more than five or six car makers on the co-development and supply of auto-use batteries," Masato Ito, Sanyo Electric's senior vice president, told Reuters.

Sanyo and Volkswagen have been jointly developing lithium-ion batteries as the race to the next generation of hybrid cars speeds up. Lithium-ion batteries are capable of holding more power than the nickel batteries that power the current hybrids.

Toyota plans to start producing lithium-ion batteries for its market-leading Prius next year in a joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial. Nissan has a joint venture with NEC to do the same.

Sanyo has conducted discussions with manufacturers in the US, Europe and Japan, Mr Ito said.

The pinch of higher oil prices on consumers around the world is expected to speed the move to hybrids and virtually every big car maker is developing new dual-fuel models.

Honda, which has positioned itself at the forefront of the hybrid shift, particularly in the US, will produce 200,000 units of its new hybrid hatchback in Japan — half of which will be sold in North America. Sales of Toyota’s Prius, the world's biggest selling hybrid, rocketed 69 per cent in the US last year as Hollywood stars including Leonardo Di Caprio and Cameron Diaz became converts.

GM and Lexus have produced a range of hybrids, while Hyundai is also working on a hybrid version of its solid-selling Sonata sedan.

European makers, including BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, are all scrambling to bring a hybrid to market.

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