Toyota Australia achieves hybrid sales milestone

Toyota has officially sold 20,000 Prius hybrid models in Australia since it arrived in 2001.

Prius, which is the world’s best-selling hybrid vehicle with total sales approaching four million cars, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year following its debut in Japan in October 1997.

Toyota has also clocked up cumulative hybrid sales of 75,000 vehicles in Australia, including Camry with more than 42,000 sales, while the Corolla joined the hybrid brigade in June 2016 with a single hatch at 1200 sales.

Toyota Australia’s executive director sales and marketing Tony Cramb says: “The original aims were focused on energy conservation and diversification of fuel sources, yet our latest line-up demonstrates that hybrid cars can also offer chassis dynamics that make driving fun.”

The first-generation Prius was shown as a concept car at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show and released in Japan two years later as a production model, with a 1.5-litre petrol engine working in tandem with an electric motor.

The completely restyled second-generation Prius was launched at the New York International Auto Show in 2003.

The third-generation Prius, again restyled, adopted a larger 1.8-litre petrol engine and was named Japanese Car of the Year from its 2009 debut.

In early 2010, Toyota introduced hybrid versions with the Camry sedan. Two years later, the Prius nameplate was expanded into a family with the arrival of the Prius c city car and the seven-seat Prius v.

Finally, the fourth-generation Prius, which was launched in Australia last year.