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Toyota Has Now Sold 15 Million Hybrid Vehicles Worldwide
Hybrid vehicles are here to stay and as the years roll by, its popularity will further increase. We all know or are familiar that Toyota was among the pioneers of mass-produced hybrid cars with the Prius. And over the years Toyota has integrated the Hybrid system in some of their model lineups with lots of success.
That success has yield 15 million in sales worldwide and the company are celebrating such an achievement. Of those sales, almost a fifth (2.8 million) have been in Europe, where the U.K. is one of the leading markets for Toyota’s hybrid vehicles. As of the end of March this year, the company had shifted more than 356,000 units on these shores. At present, hybrids account for two-thirds (66.1 percent) of all Toyota’s new passenger vehicle sales in the U.K.
The range of available hybrid electric vehicles at the global level from Toyota and Lexus now reaches 44. This eclipsed the original flag-bearer that remains the symbol of the company’s early and visionary foray into mass electrification.
Toyota’s decision to develop hybrid electric vehicles started over 25 years ago. Takeshi Uchiyamada led a team to develop a car for the 21st century, one which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful pollutants. The first-generation Prius was launched in 1997 around the time of the Kyoto Protocol signing. This gave new momentum to the environmental movement. Today, 15 million sales later, Toyota has made a significant contribution to the environment. Its hybrid-electric technology has reduced CO2 emissions by more than 120 million tonnes worldwide to date. This is in comparison to sales of equivalent petrol vehicles.
Across this period, Toyota has seen demand for its hybrid electric vehicles soar as the company has combined this innovative technology with emotional design enabled by the roll-out of its TNGA global platforms. Beyond the current 4th generation hybrid system, Toyota is continuing to refine its technology to achieve even lower emissions and ever-better fuel efficiency. Today, hybrid electric vehicles are affordable, accessible and convenient for customers across a broad spread of European markets.
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See Related Post: Toyota To Share Its Patented Hybrid Car Tech With Other Automakers
