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Mati Saar, board member of Tulika Takso, told that opting for hybrid vehicles does not mean a significantly bigger investment for the company compared with gasoline and diesel powered cars.

"The price difference for these cars is not very big, maybe 1,000-2,000 euros or 10%, but not always -- it depends on the carmaker and how the car industry develops," Saar said.

The cars are estimated to cost approximately 20,000 euros apiece.

"Fuel is very attractive to us -- one thing is the environment, but fuel consumption will decline significantly as well," Saar said.

Saar said that the switch to new cars was not a one-off, as the taxi company generally uses a car for two years.

"Every two years, we return old cars, receive new cars, and now in the framework of the same process we will not swap cars for new cars which do not run on alternative fuel," he said.

Tulika Takso said it aims to be the first taxi company in Estonia the fleet of which is made up exclusively of hybrid and gas fueled vehicles.

Of the 300 new cars of Tulika Takso 165 will be Toyotas, the first batch of which will be delivered by dealer Amserv this week.