Toyota has sold more than nine million Lexus and Toyota hybrid vehicles around the world, including more than 85,800 delivered in Australia alone.
According to the company, Toyota hybrid vehicles have saved their owners a collective total of 25bn litres of petrol – enough fuel, theoretically, for each of their cars to travel around the Earth… and then some.
The latest milestone, achieved in April, comes as Toyota Australia prepares to introduce its newest hybrid, Corolla, early in the second half of this year.
Toyota in Japan has revealed that the total fuel saving from its nine million Toyota hybrid cars represents an average of more than 2,770 litres per vehicle compared with driving petrol-only cars of similar size.
The saving would provide enough fuel for each of those vehicles to travel at least 52,400km, or 1.3 times around the equator, based on a nominal average consumption of 5.3 litres per 100km. Three-quarters of the nine million hybrids use less than this amount of fuel.
Toyota has also estimated its hybrid vehicles have resulted in approximately 67 million fewer tonnes of CO2 emissions than would have been emitted by petrol-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance.
Toyota Australia’s executive director sales and marketing Tony Cramb said the extent to which hybrid vehicles had found homes in driveways around the world confirmed them as a mainstream option for motorists.
“Toyota’s hybrid vehicles are renowned for their performance, reliability, durability and exceptionally low running costs as well as their contribution to the environment and to saving precious fossil fuels,” Mr Cramb said.
In December, Victor Dugonics of Dusseldorf, Germany, became Europe’s millionth Toyota hybrid customer and was rewarded with an additional hybrid car for his wife and, as an avid sports fan, he was also treated to a game of ice hockey between Dusseldorfer EG, his home town, and Kolner Haie, home to Toyota Deutschland GmbH (TDG).
