Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Wednesday it aimed to start sales of gasoline-electric hybrid-powered cars in Japan at the beginning of 2000. The automaker said in a statement it would begin conducting driving tests on public roads in April. The company's first hybrid vehicle is based on its Tino wagon, which was introduced in the Japanese market last December and emits about one-half the amount of carbon dioxide of other vehicles of the same class, it said. The hybrid vehicle also cuts emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide to about one-tenth of the levels set by Japan's exhaust emission standards, it said.