As oil prices climb up to record highs, automakers are scrambling to produce a commercially-feasible electric vehicle. Hyundai hopes to make a good head start in the Hybrid Electric Car segment with the introduction of the make’s first hybrid electric car. The Asian country’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy divulged that Hyundai is currently conducting test drives of a hybrid electric version of its Avante model, a compact car called the Elantra in Australia, North America and Europe.

The hybrid Avante will use a lithium ion rechargeable battery pack. Expected to be sold in 2009, it will be the first South Korean hybrid electric vehicle. The new hybrid car can reach 37.9 miles per gallon compared to 24.7 miles per gallon for conventional engines or up to 35% savings on fuel. If successful, Hyundai could beat GM and Mitsubishi to the electric car race.

General Motors is planning to roll out Volt, its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, in the US come November 2010. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors is aiming to be the first makor automaker to bring an all-electric vehicle to the mass market by 2010, is fast-tracking the development of its prototype 4-door iMiEV electric vehicle.

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