NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday domestic sales of its gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles had topped 1 million units by the end of July.
Cumulative global sales, including the 1,007,400 in Japan, exceeded 2.68 million units, the automaker said.
Toyota launched its first hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Coaster Hybrid EV minibus, in August 1997. It followed with the Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid car, that December.
At present, Toyota's hybrid vehicle lineup in Japan covers nine cars and three commercial vehicles. Outside Japan, Toyota sells eight hybrid cars in some 80 countries and regions.
Toyota said the hybrids have emitted about 4 million fewer tons of carbon dioxide in Japan and some 15 million fewer tons worldwide since 1997 when compared with what the gasoline-powered versions would have emitted.