The head of Toyota Motor Co.p's European marketing arm aims to beat projections by a third and sell 20,000 Prius hybrid cars in Europe this year.

Tadashi Arashima, chief executive of Toyota Motor Marketing Europe, told Reuters Television on Monday he expects sales of the Japanese automaker's conventional cars to get a boost this year from the advent of new diesel engines that are popular with European customers.

"In the long run, (hybrids) will play a significant role in the model line-up, but for the time being still, the recognition of the hybrid drive is not so high in Europe so we are gradually trying to increase these sales," Arashima said.

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