Toyota and Lexus hybrid sales top two million

Since the launch of the world's first mass-produced hybrid, the Prius, in Japan in 1997, more than 2.01 million hybrid vehicles have been sold worldwide.

Toyota currently sells 13 hybrid vehicle models in 50 countries and regions around the world, including three commercial vehicle models in Japan.

Toyota calculates that since 1997, its hybrid vehicles have led to approximately 11 million fewer tons1 of CO2 emissions would have been emitted by petrol-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance.

Sales of Toyota hybrid vehicles began in the UK with the launch of the original Prius in 2000. Toyota has since sold more than 30,000 Prius models in the UK. The new, third generation Toyota Prius, launched in August 2009, has already generated more than 3,000 customer orders in the UK.

Lexus remains the only premium brand in the UK to offer three full hybrids as part of its range: GS 450h, LS 600h and the newly-launched RX 450h. Together, these models will comprise over 45% of Lexus sales in the UK in 2010.

By the early 2010s, Toyota plans to offer 10 different hybrid models in the UK. In July, Toyota announced that it would manufacture a hybrid version of its C-segment hatchback, Auris, in the UK from mid-2010, a critical first step in the company's plans to offer a hybrid version of every model in the early 2020s.

Toyota aims to sell one million hybrid vehicles globally a year by the early 2010s.

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Credits: JRC