Playmates Toys Holdings Ltd said on Monday it expected strong sales this year from a newly launched product lineup, including a Bart Simpson doll that barks wisecracks from the top of your computer monitor.

The ``I Pals'' dolls, which can be connected to PCs and receive new phrases downloaded from select websites, are among a number of new multi-media and interactive electronic toys that the company says offers affordable cutting edge technology.

One of the Hong Kong-based toy designer and marketer's biggest hopes this year is an addition to the Amazing Family line of computerised, animatronic dolls - the Amazing Babies.

Amazing Ally, with 32 megabytes of voice memory filled with lines like, ``Hey girlfriend, let's brush my hair and put on my purple butterfly barrette,'' was the top-selling doll in the United States last year.

Playmates chairman Thomas Chan told a news briefing on Monday that the 2000 Ally model will have more features and better software.

``We expect to sell 750,000 to 1.5 million Amazing Ally dolls in the third and fourth quarter this year just in the U.S. market,'' Chan said.

Amazing Ally has an estimated retail price of US$55-$65.

The Amazing Babies, which start out making unintelligible noises and gradually ``learn'' vocabulary, will hit U.S. stores this summer with an estimated price of US$40-45.

Chan declined to provide projections for the nine Amazing Babies dolls or for the company's other toy lines.

He said the response to Playmates' new products at the New York Toy Fair in February was encouraging. The North American and European markets account for more than 80 percent of the company's sales.

``The new products will allow Playmates to further strengthen its position as a diversifed multi-faceted interactive entertainment products enterprise,'' Chan said.

Playmates vice chairman Charles Ip said the company has contracted out the manufacturing process to other companies such as Hong Kong-based Harbour Ring International Holdings Ltd .

Playmates is a strategic investor in Harbour Ring, which in March agreed to sell a controlling stake to Internet Capital Group, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and the Li Ka-shing Foundation. The buyers intend to convert it to an Internet investment vehicle.

Ip said Playmates had no immediate plans to sell down its stake in Harbour Ring and instead would wait and assess the company's development following the takeover.

Playmates' shareholding of about 14 percent in Harbour Ring would be diluted to four percent after the change of control, Chief Financial Officer of Playmates George Chan said.

[Updated 4/11/2000]