Hybrids Playing Big Role for Toyota in Europe

A full third of Toyota light-vehicle sales in Europe now are hybrids, the automaker says.

Premium-level buyers are even more environmentally and efficiency-conscious, with Toyota’s high-ticket Lexus brand seeing nearly two-thirds of its sales from hybrid models. West European buyers are drawn to the technology the most, with 41% of Toyota’s customers and 98% of Lexus buyers in the region opting for hybrid-powered cars.

The data comes as good news to the automaker, which will add three new hybrid vehicles to its European lineups at this week’s Paris auto show, including the Toyota C-HR Hybrid, the new-generation Prius Plug-In Hybrid and the Lexus LC 500h coupe.

“We’re on track to sell close to 300,000 hybrids this year,” says Karl Schlicht, executive vice president- Toyota Motor Europe. “That is a new record for us and positions Toyota and Lexus as leaders in electrification.”

The automaker plans to sell more than 900,000 vehicles overall in Europe this year, with a third of those hybrids.

“This really shows that hybrids are what customers want right now – which is a great reward for having invested so early in powertrain electrification,” Schlicht says.

Since launching its first European hybrid in 2000, 1.5 million Toyota and Lexus hybrids have been sold on the continent, which is Toyota’s fastest-growing region worldwide for hybrid sales.

Among the most popular Toyota hybrid models are the C-segment Auris Hybrid (57,884 sales January-August), the B-segment Yaris Hybrid (55,611) and the recently launched RAV4 Hybrid compact CUV (25,909).

Lexus hybrid sales totaled 28,782 in the year’s first eight months. Its best sellers were the NX 300h (10,936), RX 450h (6,052) and CT200h (5,519).