Toyota Spain Hits Hybrid Sales Target Early

MADRID – Toyota will close the year with an estimated 64,700 units sold in the Spanish market, an 11% increase from the 58,500 sold in 2016.

Of that total, 61% will be models powered by hybrid technology, as the Japanese automaker reaches its 2020 target three years early. The total does not include Toyota’s upscale Lexus brand.

“The increase in the percentage of hybrids over the total sales of Toyota in Spain has grown exponentially in recent years, from 20% in 2014 to 61% just three years later,” notes Agustin Martin, president and CEO of Toyota Spain.

Martin predicts Toyota will sell about 65,000 units in Spain in 2018, with hybrids’ share increasing to 70%.

Toyota’s seven hybrid models comprise the widest range on the Spanish market: the Yaris, Auris Auris hybrid Touring Sports, C-HR, Prius, Prius + and RAV4.

Sales to private customers in 2017 will represent more than 63% of Toyota sales, with business fleets accounting for 28% and the remainder sold to rental fleets.

Martin supports ANFAC, the main Spanish association of automakers, in its bid to persuade the government to base car taxes not on purchase but on use. Ride sharing and other new forms of mobility “do not take into account the ownership of the automobile,” he points out.