LOS ANGELES -- Is the hybrid boom over? Hardly.

Toyota Prius sales plunged 27.4 percent in April, to 8,234 units, compared to the same month last year. But the problem was limited manufacturing capacity, not lack of consumer demand, said Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. In fact, he said, soaring fuel prices have made Toyota's hybrids hotter than ever.

The production start of the Camry Hybrid at the Tsutsumi plant in Japan meant it has had to cut back on building Prius units.

"We ended the month with a three-day supply of Prius," Press said in an interview. "Demand has never been higher. We also had a phenomenal month for Highlander Hybrid and RX 400h."

The Camry Hybrid went on sale nationwide on May 1. Most regions had received their first shipment by Friday, May 5, said spokesman John Hanson. In the two days in April that the Camry Hybrid was on sale - in California and Oregon - 47 units were sold.

As much as Toyota would like to sell more hybrids, Tsutsumi is maxed out. Toyota already is scrambling to increase the capacity there until its Georgetown, Ky., plant starts building the Camry Hybrid in September, Hanson said.

At best, Press said Toyota Motor Sales can double its U.S. hybrid sales from last year, when it sold 146,560 units.

As for the future, Press said Toyota is short of the engineering resources to accelerate its plans to bring new hybrid models to market.

"Expanding hybrid volume requires increasing the number of vehicles that have the hybrid option available," he said. "That's driven by engineering resources, and it's difficult to accelerate that."