Toyota Motor Corporation announced that the global total sales of hybrid models of this automaker exceeded 6 million units (more precisely, 6.072 million cars) as of December 31, 2013. At the same time, Toyota reached this last million mark in a record-breakingly short time of just nine months.
Efforts to mitigate the environmental impact of automobile traffic are a priority for Toyota . Believing that environmentally-friendly vehicles can only have a positive impact if they find a response among the general public, Toyota is making an unrelenting effort to promote hybrid models in the mass market .
As of this date, Toyota offers a total of 24 different hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid model in 80 countries and regions of the world. In addition, Toyota will launch a total of 15 new hybrid models in global markets over the next two years, including the new Harrier Hybrid in the Japanese market (as of January 15) and the Highlander Hybrid in the United States (in the near future). Toyota will continue to expand its product line and increase the number of countries and regions in which it offers its hybrid cars.
According to Toyota 's calculations, as of December 31, 2013, hybrid cars produced by this company contributed to the reduction of CO 2 emissions , which are generally considered to be the cause of global warming, by approximately 41 million tons . The calculation is based on a comparison with cars of comparable size and driving performance powered by a classic gasoline engine. Toyota also estimates that its hybrid-powered cars have helped save around 15 billion liters of gasoline , compared to cars of a similar size powered by a conventional gasoline engine.
In August 1997, Toyota launched its first Coaster hybrid electric car in Japan, followed in December by the Toyota Prius – the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger car. Since then, Toyota 's hybrid models have gained immense popularity among customers all over the world.
Toyota is promoting hybrid technologies as the basic environmental technologies of the 21st century, which enable different combinations of fuel types – including the component technologies necessary to develop different types of environmentally friendly vehicles. Therefore, Toyota plans to continue to push for improvements in technical parameters, cost reduction and expansion of its product line of environmentally friendly models – including other environmentally friendly cars with non-hybrid drive, in order to be able to offer cars that are positively received by customers.
Source: Toyota
