Toyota marks 3 million hybrids sold globally

Having only been available in Japan since 1997 and elsewhere beginning in 2000, Toyota recently announced sales of hybrids have topped 3 million units as of February of this year. Remarkably, the last million have been sold in the short span of time since August 2009.

This year, the Toyota Motors Corporation (TMC) continued to expand its hybrid vehicle lineup, with the Lexus CT 200h just this month. The auto group currently sells 16 hybrid models in roughly 80 countries around the world.

TMC expects to introduce 10 new hybrids by 2012, including six entirely new vehicles and four that have been significantly redesigned. They intend to continue building the lineup of hybrids, expecting sales of such vehicles to continue sales growth.

Toyota believes their hybrid vehicles have resulted in preventing approximately 18 million tons less of CO2 emissions than purely gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size and performance would have emitted.

Dedicated to environmental stewardship and believing the widespread use of hybrid vehicles is an effective strategy to ameliorate the damaging effect of greenhouse gasses, the company plans to continue developing and selling hybrid vehicles throughout the world.

In addition, TMC is looking to develop other forms of environmentally friendly vehicles, improving performance, reducing costs, developing sustainable materials for use in fabrication and producing cars popular with the buying public.

Thanks to the efforts of TMC and other companies developing cleaner automotive technology, the streets of America and the world at large just might begin to look a little greener.