Hybrid cars are gaining momentum with Toyota Motor Europe announcing big increases on sales of their hybrids in the old Continent.
The headline figure is a 45 per cent increase on year-to-date hybrid sales versus the same period last year (January to August), with 31 per cent of Toyota’s customers choosing a hybrid powertrain for their next vehicle (41 per cent in Western Europe alone).
This increase was helped by the arrival of the new Prius which sold until August more than double the units sold last year in total, scoring so far 12,000 cars. The hybrid versions of the Auris and the RAV4 models are also the best-sellers in their respective range, while the Yaris Hybrid accounts for 40 per cent of all Yaris sales.
Lexus hybrid sales represent 61 per cent of sales in Europe, with the number rising to 98 per cent in Western Europe. “We’re on track to sell close to 300,000 hybrids this year,” said Karl Schlicht, Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Europe. “That is a new record for us and positions Toyota and Lexus as leaders in electrification.”
Toyota and Lexus estimate that they will sell more than 900,000 vehicles in total in Greater Europe for 2016, with one third of those being hybrid. “This really shows that hybrids are what customers want right now – which is a great reward for having invested so early in powertrain electrification”, said Schlicht.
Toyota and Lexus prepare to introduce three new hybrid models at the upcoming Paris Auto Show: the all-new C-HR Hybrid, the new Prius Plug-In Hybrid and the beautiful Lexus LC 500h Coupe.
“Our retailers are extremely excited about Toyota C-HR,” said Karl Schlicht. “We started taking orders this month and are very confident this new entry in the growing cross-over segment will further help grow our sales into 2017. From what we can see so far, nearly 70% of customers will choose the hybrid version.”
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