Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group and carmaker Yarovit will build Russia's first hybrid car by year's end, Yarovit president Andrei Biryukov said Monday.

Onexim Group and Yarovit Motors, a carmaker based in St. Petersburg, will build three prototypes of a city car with a hybrid engine by December 2010. The companies will start building a plant in 2011 and will launch serial production in 2012, he said. The project aims to produce a total of 10,000 cars per year.

The project will cost 150 million euros ($204 million), and the companies will soon set up a joint venture to manage it, with 51 percent owned by Onexim and the remaining stake held by Yarovit, Onexim CEO Dmitry Razumov said. Onexim will provide the majority of the investment, he said.

The car will be made of aluminum and basalt fiber and will weigh less than 700 kilograms. It will have a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour, consuming only 3.5 liters per 100 kilometers.

The car would cost about 8,900 euros, Vedomosti reported in January, quoting a source in the government.