Japanese consumers check out Honda Motor Corps. new CR-Z Hybrid vehicle on display at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, February 25, 2010. (EPA)

TOKYO, Feb. 27 (AFP) – Honda Motor rolled out the world's first hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV) even as its rival Toyota struggled with a mass recall crisis that has also engulfed its hybrid Prius sedan.

Honda said the CR-Z would go on sale Friday in Japan, with a domestic sales target of 1,000 vehicles per month, and in North America and Europe this summer.

The CR-Z petrol-electric hybrid boasts a fuel economy of 25 kilometers per litre (about 59 miles per US gallon) under Japanese road conditions, higher than the 17 km per liter its Civic hybrid sedan achieves.

Honda's announcement came only hours after embattled Toyota chief Akio Toyoda testified before the US Congress, where he faced a grilling by angry lawmakers over safety defects and the company's handling of them.

Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, said its marketing plan had not been affected by its biggest rival's global safety woes over faulty accelerator systems, and flaws in the braking system of the Prius.

''The company had scheduled to release the hybrid model worldwide in 2010. There is no change to the original plan,'' said Honda spokeswoman Megumi Tanaka.

Sales of green cars have surged in Japan since April last year, in part due to car companies slashing the prices of their recent models and government tax incentives, making them the most popular vehicles. Honda last year rolled out a revamped model of its flagship fuel-sipping Insight, which was the best selling hybrid in Japan before it was overtaken last May by Toyota's remodelled Prius.

Toyota is now pulling roughly 223,000 hybrids in Japan and about 147,500 in the United States due to a problem with the anti-lock braking system, in a recall that also extends to Europe and other markets.