ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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has announced that it has just sold its five millionth LexusLexusJapan, 1989 > present26 models
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or Toyota hybrid vehicle worldwide, and it is 50,000 vehicles away from having sold two million hybrids in the US alone. That means that the US has been responsible for 40% of Toyota's overall hybrid sales. 

Toyota's hybrids dominate the American hybrid market. Its 12 hybrid models represent 70% of US hybrid sales and 16% of Toyota and Lexus' overall sales in the US. Hybrids still have room for growth in the US and make up just 3% of the car market in the US.

Toyota's hybrid offerings have grown to 20 models on the market in 80 countries with even more planned in the future. It estimates that the cars have reduced CO2 by 34 million tons and saved 3 billion gallons of gasoline, compared to gasoline-only vehicles.

“With more than 50 hybrid vehicle models from various manufacturers available in the U.S. today, hybrids on the road are saving nearly 500 million gallons of petroleum annually in this country,” said Tony Markel, senior engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Toyota is on the cusp of introducing a new generation of hybrids worldwide. It has 18 new hybrids planned by 2015 and expects hybrids sales to rise to 1 million units a year globally by that time.

The rise of hybrids has been very gradual. The PriusToyota Prius RallyJapan, 2002 > present launched in December 1997 in Japan and went on sale in the US in July 2000. In the first six months in the US, Toyota sold 5,562 Prius cars. Toyota lost money on the earliest models sold until the first mid-cycle refresh. The PriusToyota Prius GT ConceptJapan, 2004 > present really became a sales success in the second generation in 2003.

“The first Prius was a surprising success and we never imagined the market would become as vast as it has for the hybrid powertrain,” said Bob Carter, Toyota vice president for automotive operations.