In a multimedium ad campaign now being unveiled, Toyota is touting the Prius as a high-tech buff's dream and a car for the environmentally conscious consumer. The vehicle, which most closely resembles a Toyota Corolla in size and seats five people, starts at a base price of $20,450 including freight.

It uses a battery to start, and then converts to gasoline when the car travels faster than roughly 15 miles per hour. If it is coasting or slows to a stop, the car shifts to the electric battery. Most importantly, the car battery recharges itself and doesn't need to be plugged into a socket.

Toyota says Prius gives 45 miles to a gallon on the highway and 52 miles in the city because it mostly is using the battery.

It is unclear how many folks will drive one, but the market appears stronger than that for electric-powered cars. Toyota thinks it can sell as many as 12,000 during the next year. By comparison, it sold more than 450,000 Toyota Camrys in 1999. Still, Toyota figures this is a bet worth making. The auto maker, which may gain some credibility as an innovator, is looking to expand the use of gas-electric hybrid technology to sports utility vehicles in the future.

Others seem to agree on the strategy. Ford Motor Co. has said it plans a hybrid sports utility vehicle by 2003. General Motors Corp., which is abandoning the electric-car business, is developing a hybrid in partnership with Toyota separate from the Prius. And late last year, Honda introduced its own electric and gasoline-powered car, the two-seater Insight, at a suggested retail price of $19,320. Plans are in the works to increase production.

As befits an upstart, the advertising mixes wry humour with promises of techno wizardry. One print ad, created by the New York ad agency, Oasis, shows the car slowing down to stop at a red light. The line: "When it sees red, it charges," referring to how the technology allows the battery to recharge as the car slides into neutral while stopping. Another ad, slated to run outdoors, puts the Prius in the middle of an oil field, with the line: "The new car for a used world." Both the TV and print ads use the tagline: "Toyota Prius/ Genius."

The campaign is intended "to make the technology come alive," says Paul Bernasconi, Oasis' creative director and a partner, adding, "When the car pulls up to an intersection, the power train cuts out altogether, so it goes quiet. You can hear the wind whistle. It's an experience inside a car that no other car can offer."

Steve Sturm, Toyota's vice-president of marketing, says Toyota hopes to tap early adapters and those concerned about the environment. An estimated 1,800 cars have already been preordered. "The next step is to cross the chasm, go from the early adapters into the general majority," he says, adding, "That's the group that is going to be more hesitant to buy new technology until it's proven."

The campaign, like the car, is being targeted at a small group of consumers. Toyota has budgeted about $15 million, compared with some $60 million that is spent annually on advertising its most successful car, the Camry. Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, which created some of the advertising, says it is stretching the budget by blending television, print media, the Internet and outdoor billboards.

Toyota launched a new Website for the car (prius.toyota.com) just this month and sent some 40,000 e-mails to consumers allowing them to preorder the car. Outdoor billboards will appear in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Bill Gordon, a Saatchi & Saatchi management partner, said the campaign is small as the car isn't expected to sell huge volumes. The magazine ads begin in the August issue of a variety of magazines, including Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Wired, Fortune, Popular Science and Sierra Club's magazine, Sierra.

The TV commercials will air July 31 on environmental cable channels like Discover and Animal Planet, as well as the Public Broadcast System, CNBC, A&E and some prime-time shows. In one commercial, a family driving through the jungle in their Prius is surrounded by a gang of monkeys who give the car a lookover and then burst into applause. A voice-over comments: "Obviously nature approves."

A second spot pans a sleek-looking vehicle, then pulls back to show children nearby playing with a toy electric car that hits the tire of a Prius. "The true car of the future is the one that ensures that we have a future," an announcer says. "Introducing the new Toyota Prius. Part gas. Part electric. Totally cordless."

Soon, the auto maker may need more than unique technology to sell the car. As more auto makers embrace the model that uses both gas and electricity, says Jim Hall, a vice-president with automotive consultants AutoPacific, the hybrid model will simply be considered a high-fuel economy. "A lot of people are making them out to be the second coming. They aren't," he said.

-- The Wall Street Journal