Toyota’s environmental action plan sets out ambitious targets to sell one million hybrid vehicles annually, while improving average fuel efficiency in all regions by 25pc by 2015 compared with 2005.
By 2020, Toyota also plans to have a hybrid option across its entire vehicle range.
In its five-year environmental plan, which was released yesterday, Toyota stated how it wanted to further develop hybrid vehicle (HV) technologies and stimulate the HV market by introducing new models.
Earlier this month, sales of its hybrid vehicles had topped the one million mark in Japan, while it said that more than 2.68 million units had been sold globally.
Hybrid evolution
In 1997 Toyota entered the hybrid marketplace, first launching its Coaster Hybrid EV minibus and then the Prius later that year. It then extended its hybrid system into minivans, SUVs and rear-wheel-drive sedans. In 2009 Toyota launched its third-generation Prius, as well as two other hybrid vehicles, the Lexus HS250h and the Toyota Sai.
It estimates that since 1997, its hybrid vehicles have led to circa four million less tonnes of CO2 emissions in Japan and approximately 15 million less tonnes of CO2 globally.
