TOKYO, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday denied a media report that the Japanese government had funded development of the gas-electric hybrid system for its popular Prius vehicle.

Jim Press, a former Toyota executive who now runs Chrysler, was quoted by Business Week as saying: 'The Japanese government paid for 100 percent of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius.'

But Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said that the reported remark was the result of a 'misunderstanding.'

'The current Prius uses a nickel-hydrogen battery. All the technologies related to the Prius, including this battery, were developed by Toyota alone,' he said.

'We have received no government subsidies nor any other support from the Japanese government at all,' he said.

Press oversaw Toyota's rapid growth in the US market and became the first non-Japanese to join its board of directors. He surprised the auto world last year by leaving the Japanese auto giant for a job at struggling Chrysler.

The Prius, first introduced in Japan in 1997, was the world's first mass-produced hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle. Toyota has since been the industry leader in hybrid vehicles.