2010 Toyota Prius (FOXNews.com)
It took almost 10 years for Toyota's hybrid sales to reach one million units, but only two years and three months for the second million. According to Toyota, total hybrid sales to the end of August were more than 2.01 million, with all three generations of the Prius accounting for 1.4 million units.
Toyota calculates that its worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles since 1997 have contributed greatly to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, claiming that the two million odd hybrid vehicles now on the road have generated approximately 11 million fewer tonnes of CO2 than gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance.
Click here for a review of the 2010 Toyota Prius
Toyota currently sells 13 different hybrid vehicle models in approximately 50 countries and regions around the world, including three commercial-vehicle models in Japan. Its first hybrid, incidentally, was not the Prius but in fact a Coaster Hybrid EV, which went on sale in Japan in August of 1997.
The automaker’s goal for the long term is to sell one million hybrid vehicles per year as early as possible in the next decade and eventually introduce hybrid models in its entire lineup around 2020.
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