Hyundai Motor Company plans to mass-produce hybrid electric vehicles starting next year, the company announced Monday. While accompanying South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on a Kia plant tour last Friday, Hyundai-Kia Chairman Chung Mong Koo said Hyundai will begin production to "create new jobs and develop the industry into a next-generation value-adding growth engine." Translation: We've fallen behind, since Toyota and Honda already sell them.

Hyundai will begin its first mass production with the compact-sized LPG model, the Avante (Elantra, to us) LPI (Liqufied Petroleum Injection) hybrid, which uses both gas and electric power. In 2010, Hyundai plans to introduce mid-sized hybrids (meaning Sonata-sized) that use gasoline and LPG. Today, Hyundai builds Accent hybrids to government agencies as pilot projects, but they're not available to consumers. Who knew?