IN January this year, Toyota underlined the rapidly growing popularity of electrified vehicles by delivering its 500,000th hybrid car in Australia.
The landmark vehicle, a RAV4 SUV, was driven out of a Toyota dealership in December 2024, during the lead-up to the holiday season.
It was one of 118,081 Toyota hybrid-electric vehicles supplied by Toyota dealers in 2024, which represents an increase of 45,997 vehicles or 63.8 per cent compared with the 72,084 Toyota hybrids retailed in the previous year.
This is the first time that sales of cars powered by hybrid technology have reached six figures in a calendar year, either from a single brand or from the entire industry.
Hybrid-electric vehicles accounted for 48.9 per cent of Toyota’s 2024 sales, a new high compared with 33.5 per cent in the previous year.
Adding the bZ4X SUV and Mirai results in an electrified sales share for Toyota of 49.3 per cent.
If categorised as a separate franchise, Toyota HEVs would take the runners-up position on the sales podium – narrowly behind Toyota’s sales of petrol-only and diesel vehicles.
Delivery of the milestone RAV4 also cemented the model’s position as Australia’s best-selling hybrid electric vehicle.
RAV4 topped the hybrid sales charts for the second year running with 55,902 deliveries, or more than double the 25,666 that were sold in 2023.
The mid-size SUV is also Australia’s most popular hybrid of all time with a grand total of 167,776 sales – achieved in fewer than six years.
This equates to one-third of the 505,252 HEVs sold by Toyota since the first Prius arrived in October 2001.
Sales records demonstrate the accelerating popularity of hybrid-electric technology.
It took 19 years (until 2020) for Toyota’s annual hybrid sales to pass 50,000 cars – but just four more years to double the selling rate to beyond 100,000.
