Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has announced that cumulative global hybrid vehicle sales for the company have topped the 5-million mark, reaching 5.125-million units on March 31.

TMC says it regards the promotion of mass market use of hybrid vehicles as a management priority.
Last year, hybrid vehicles accounted for 14% of TMC’s global vehicle sales and 40% of its vehicle sales in Japan.

As of April, TMC sells 19 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid model in around 80 countries and regions around the world.

However, this family is set to grow. Between now and December 2015, TMC says it will launch 18 new hybrid vehicles worldwide.

The vehicle manufacturer says it is “committed to augmenting its product line- up even further and increas-ing the number of countries and regions where it sells hybrid vehicles”.
TMC calculates that, as of March 31, 2013, TMC hybrid vehicles have resulted in around 34-million fewer cubic tons of carbon dioxide being pumped into the air, compared with what would have been emitted by petrol-powered vehicles of similar size and driving perform- ance.

TMC also estimates that its hybrid vehicles have saved around 12-million kilolitres of fuel, compared with the amount used by petrol-powered vehicles of similar size.
In August 1997, in Japan, TMC launched the Coaster Hybrid electric vehicle, followed by the Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle, in December of that year.
“The launch of the first-generation Prius had effects beyond our expectations, with the vehicle increasing consumer environmental awareness and raising hybrid vehicle expectations,” says TMC vice-chairperson Takeshi Uchiyamada, who was responsible for the devel-opment of the first-generation Prius.

“We had to develop a hybrid system from scratch, making our task extremely difficult. Nevertheless, we took on the challenge. “The understanding of con-sumers at launch time laid the foundation for widespread adoption, and, since then, consumers have continued to support TMC hybrid vehicles. For this, I am extremely grateful.”