Toyota is seeking to achieve cumulative sales of five million hybrid vehicles in the early part of this decade, according to Reuters. The Japanese carmaker told the news agency that it has so far sold more than 2.68 million hybrids since it globally launched its first model.
That first model, the Prius, remains a global phenomenon and was alone responsible for 500,000 vehicle sales by April 2006.
Currently Toyota produces nine hybrid passenger vehicle models and three hybrid commercial vehicle models sold in Japan. While outside Japan, eight hybrid passenger vehicle models are sold in approximately 80 countries and regions, with cumulative overseas sales having topped 1.68 million units.
To help it achieve its target five million target, the carmaker intends to roll out hybrid technology across its range of established passenger car, starting first with the Auris, which gained a hybrid variant, called the Auris HSD, earlier this year.
Under a new five year environmental plan published yesterday (August 25), the carmaker pledges that by 2015, it will improve average fuel efficiency–in all regions–by 25 per cent compared to that of 2005.
As of July 31, 2010, the carmaker calculates that Toyota hybrid vehicles, since 1997, have led to approximately 4 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions in Japan, and approximately 15 million fewer tons globally, than would have been emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance.
