They also agree that making the technology affordable will be a challenge.

Toyota "is five years in front of the rest of the world" in developing hybrid technolgy that combines electric and internal combustion engines, German auto analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer told AFP Tuesday.

"In principle it is Toyota which first started with a strong environmental focus on its cars."

Toyota executive Mike Hawes told AFP late Tuesday that the group was now "investigating biofuels further," and added: "We are also looking at, in the longer term, fuel cells," which use hydrogen to produce electricity.

Toyota has 10 years of experience with its Prius hybrid that combines an electric and a petrol engine.

General Motors, meanwhile, has developed vehicles which use petrol mixed with ethanol, so-called E-85 capable cars and trucks, but each is now working hard on several technologies and presented their options at the Frankfurt fair.

GM's European president, Carl-Peter Foster, said automakers would probably focus on a range of solutions, with no single technology covering all needs.

"I think that basically what you will see is a competition of various technologies and ultimately the one that best suits the needs" of specific segments will win, Foster said.

"I think that alternative fuels have to play a larger role," he added, along with electrification, since electricity is relatively cheap to produce, outside cars at least.

GM highlighted several electric models at the Frankfurt fair, one of the sector's biggest showcases.

Dudenhoeffer forecast that "we will see a lot of hybrids starting in 2012-2013. Each carmaker will have a hybrid option in each car line."

Ethanol is used in what is also known as flexible-fuel vehicles that run on a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol with engines similar to petrol ones, hence the E85 tag.

GM chairman and chief executive Richard Wagoner told reporters here that his group would produce more and more cars to use the cleaner burning fuel.

"Fifty percent of our production in the US would be E85 capable by the year 2012," he said.

Dudenhoeffer forecast that automakers' short-term focus would be on hybrids and on improving the performance of petrol and diesel engines, combined with start-and-stop technology that turned motors off at traffic lights, cutting emissions further.

"Hybrids will go into the future together with internal combustion engines for the next 20-25 years," he said.

Globally, Toyota's Mike Hawes added: "It's about developing the right car for the right place at the right time.

"What works in one market may not necessarily work as well in another."

And the big question is cost.

According to some estimates, "clean" technology can add around 2,000 euros (2,750 dollars) to the price tag of a sports utility vehicle.

Fuel cells are even more expensive, but are the most promising long-term solution according to the German auto analyst.

Toyota, Dudenhoeffer noted, has "announced they would bring a fuel-cell car into the market by 2015 with a price of about 50,000 dollars."

Hawes said Tuesday: "It's very sophisticated and advanced technology."

It is also by far the most efficient, transforming "about 70-90 percent of the energy into power" vehicles can use, while emitting only water into the environment, the German analyst said.

That compares with about 40 percent transformation for current petrol or diesel motors, which spew out carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming.

But for Wagoner at GM, as for other auto execs and analysts, the hurdle is to supply hybrid, flex-fuel or other clean vehicles so that "the consumer feels like its a good value economically for them.

"That's the challenge," he said.

Peugeot chief executive Christian Streiff told reporters: "The issue is not technology at any price, but competitive ecology."

Dudenhoeffer said: "In two to three years they will come with their offerings and then we have to see how it sells."

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