Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s largest automaker by market value, will double the number of hybrid models it offers to 14 by the early years of next decade to meet higher demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.

The carmaker will also completely revamp its gasoline engine line-up by 2010 and introduce vehicles that run on ethanol in Brazil by 2007, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe plans to eventually offer all the company’s vehicles with hybrid gasoline-electric motors, as record fuel prices curb demand for conventional vehicles. General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co have suffered as consumers opt for hybrids and small cars over sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks.

‘‘Toyota is the most advanced company in developing hybrid cars,’’ said Koichi Ogawa, who helps oversee $28 billion at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd in Tokyo. The technology is ‘‘a way for Toyota to differentiate itself from other companies, even though it won’t be reflected in earnings right away,’’ he said.

The company is spending a record 920 billion yen ($8 billion) on research and development this business year as the company develops hybrids as well as fuel cell vehicles. The company plans to sell 1 million hybrids as early as 2010.

With the introduction of the Prius model in 1997, Toyota was the first automaker to release a hybrid. Japan’s biggest carmaker is aiming to make as many as 400,000 gasoline-electric vehicles in 2006, 60 percent more than 2005’s target. The company’s hybrid models include Prius cars, Camry sedans, Highlander sport-utility vehicles and Coaster buses.

The hybrid models and newly developed engines will ‘‘reduce emissions of carbon dioxide,’’ the company said in a statement.

The Japan-based carmaker will also bring out a new 1.8-liter engine for compact and mid-sized cars. Toyota expects its global vehicle sales to rise 9% to 8.85 million units in 2006. Bloomberg

Gasoline prices in the US have risen an average 36% to $2.90 over the past 12 months, according to the web site of AAA, a US drivers’ group.

The company has developed technology to allow all of its gasoline engines run with a fuel mixture including 10% ethanol. Toyota may introduce vehicles which run on a fuel mixture to the US, it said.

Hybrid vehicles combine a gasoline engine with a battery pack that’s recharged through braking. Electricity powers the vehicle at low speeds, enabling the Prius to go up to 55 miles on a gallon of gasoline, double the mileage of an automobile that runs on a conventional engine.

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