Toyota sell more than 100,000 hybrid vehicles in Australia

Toyota has clocked up another significant milestone in Australia, announcing that it has sold more than 100,000 fuel-efficient hybrid electric vehicles since the Prius first went on sale locally in 2001.

Toyota Australia reached the milestone towards the end of April, just
ahead of the launch of its first hybrid SUV, the all-new RAV4.

RAV4 Hybrid joins Camry Hybrid, Corolla Hatch Hybrid, Prius, Prius c and Prius v to form the broadest line-up of electrified vehicles offered by any company in Australia. Toyota will launch another two hybrid models later this year, including the next-generation Corolla Sedan Hybrid, with a further two models to be added to the model line-up by the end of 2020.

Customer deliveries of Toyota's hybrid electric vehicles in 2019 are on forecast to be well in excess of 20,000 vehicles, doubling the total of 11,590 hybrid vehicles sold in 2018. Hybrid deliveries this year are expected to exceed 10% of Toyota's overall sales, up from 5.3% last year and 3.9% in 2017. In the first fourth months of this year, sales of Toyota's hybrid vehicles have risen by 85% compared with the same period a year ago.

The 2019 tally of 5,613 hybrid cars represents almost 8.7% of the brand's total sales and compares with 3,029 hybrid cars or 4.4% of sales at the same time last year. In April 2019, Toyota sold 1,458 hybrid vehicles or 9.6% of its total sales for the month. Hybrids account for almost half of all Camry sales this year (45.4%), up from 39.6% last year and 20.7% in 2017. A similar trend has emerged for Corolla, with hybrid variants now comprising 31.4% of 2019 sales compared with 12.5% last year and 5.8% in 2017. Corolla has become the most popular hybrid vehicle in Australia, with 2,957 sales so far this year, edging ahead of Camry on 2,298 sales. But Camry reigns supreme over the long term, accounting for more than half of all Toyota hybrids sold in Australia, with 55,000 vehicles moving into owner hands since first being introduced in 2010.

Prius - the first Toyota hybrid in Australia back in 2001 - has topped 20,500 sales, followed by Corolla (10,600), Prius c (9,400) and Prius v (4,600). Official vehicle sales figures show consumers in South Australia and the ACT are the country's biggest hybrid fans as a proportion of total sales.

Last year, South Australians bought 6.2% of Australia's new vehicles, but 12.3% of Toyota's hybrids. The ACT, where government sales are significant, accounted for 2.9% of Toyota's hybrid sales compared with 1.6% of total new-vehicle sales. Overall, Victoria - despite its smaller population - has bought the most Toyota hybrid vehicles (32.2% of the total) ahead of NSW (29.6%). They are followed by Queensland (17.5%), SA (8.5%), WA (7.7%), ACT (2.2%), TAS (1.2%) and NT (1.1%).

Toyota Australia's Vice President Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley said, “There is a lot of buzz lately about EVs being the future of mobility, but the reality is the technology is already here and Toyota has been leading the way with hybrid petrol-electric powertrains in Australia for almost 20 years. Hybrid electric technology is not only more affordable than pure electric vehicles, it requires no charging infrastructure, emits less CO2 than a traditional petrol combustion engine and is more fuel-efficient. An owner of today's Camry Ascent Sport Hybrid can achieve savings of more than $800 and reduce CO2 emissions by almost 1.3 tonnes every year, so the total economic and environmental savings from 100,000 hybrids are huge.”

Globally, Toyota has delivered more than 12 million electrified vehicles, headed by Prius with more than five million sales. It has announced a significant acceleration in the development and launch of electrified vehicles including new variants of that use the company's tried and tested hybrid electric technology as well as developing new hydrogen fuel-cell electric and battery electric models.

The stated aim is for electrified vehicles to account for more than 50% of Toyota's global new-vehicle sales around the end of the next decade.