Toyota’s global sales of hybrid vehicles top 3 million

Tokyo – Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that global sales of its hybrid models have topped 3 million vehicles on the back of brisk demand for the Prius.

The world’s No. 1 automaker has sold more than 3.03 million gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles worldwide since 1997 when Toyota first rolled out the Prius in Japan, it said.

The Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid car, alone accounts for 72 per cent of Toyota’s global hybrid car sales.

Last year, Toyota sold 7.53 million vehicles worldwide and 690,000 of those were hybrids.

Over 60 per cent of Toyota’s hybrid sales come from abroad with the rest in Japan. In North America, Toyota’s hybrid sales have surged to 1.15 million vehicles from just 5,790 in 2000.

Toyota’s hybrid sales far outnumbered those by rivals. Honda Motor Co. said it has sold around 610,000 hybrid cars worldwide. Nissan Motor Co., which began hybrid vehicles sales in Japan late last year, said domestic hybrid sales totalled 1,900 vehicles as of February 2011.

Nissan launched sales of hybrid vehicles in North America in 2007. But the company said figures for hybrid sales in the region were not available.