Adding one more laurel to its formidable list of hybrid vehicle achievements, Toyota has announced that sales of its Toyota Prius have now officially exceeded 1 million in America. That formidable figure dwarfs the gas/electric vehicle stats of all other automakers. In October, worldwide sales of this iconic hybrid topped two million. While it remains Toyota‘s dominant single hybrid all-star, the automaker’s early commitment to gas/electric technology resulted in another impressive benchmark in March, when its total global hybrid sales eclipsed three million vehicles.
“Since the Prius went on sale eleven years ago not a year has gone by when it hasn’t been the number one selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S,” said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager. “Prius has become synonymous with the word hybrid and as we see fuel prices starting to rise again, it has accounted for more than 60 percent of hybrid passenger car sales so far this year.”
According to Toyota, the Prius — now in its third generation — has been responsible for a cumulative savings of some 881 million gallons of gasoline during its history and produced 12.4 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions compared to the average car. A perennial front-runner in the EPA’s annual Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles list, over 97 percent of all Prii ever purchased are still on the road today.
