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TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. is joining the cheap-car race with a $5,000 vehicle geared toward emerging markets such as India and Brazil, a Japanese newspaper reported.

Toyota will develop the car with its small-car subsidiary, Daihatsu, and build the car by 2015 in Bangalore, India, the Asahi newspaper reported.

The move puts Toyota into competition with Nissan-Renault and Tata Motors, which plan inexpensive cars for booming developing markets.

A Toyota spokesman declined to comment on the report.

The car might be exported to Brazil from India, Asahi said. It will be sold under a new fourth brand rolled out in addition to Toyota, Lexus and Scion, presumably to quarantine the car’s downmarket image.

Toyota has one plant in Bangalore and is building another with annual capacity for 100,000 vehicles. The second factory will open in 2010.

Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

The paper said Toyota would equip solar panels on the roof of the high-end version of the Prius when it redesigns the gasoline-electric hybrid car early next year, and the power generated by the system would be used for the air conditioning.

Toyota plans to use solar panels made by Kyocera Corp the Nikkei said.

A Toyota spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the report.

The Prius, the world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car, first went on sale in Japan in late 1997 and in other markets in 2000, and its cumulative sales have topped 1 million units worldwide.

Toyota remodeled the Prius with an improved hybrid system in 2003 and is expected to launch a third-generation version by next year.

In another new advance for the Crown Hybrid, Toyota will be equipping the car with three noise canceling speakers in an effort to ensure maximum quietness in its cabins.

Called the “active noise control” system, it detects noise via three microphones and generates anti-phase signals to counter it. The system can reduce noise by 5 to 8dB, according to the company.

The Crown Hybrid uses the same hybrid engine system as Toyota’s high-end Lexus GS but generates more noise due to the tuning for better milage. The noise cancellation system is Toyota’s high-tech solution to achieve a similar level of quiet as its luxurious cousin.

The system is in constant operation, sending out its anti-phase signals through two speakers on the front doors plus a woofer in the rear. It even continues to function while music is playing.