For the first time annual sales of both Toyota and Lexus hybrid cars topped about 100,000 units in Europe in 2012. The milestone was achieved due to a 29 percent rise in demand for the automakers’ hybrids to 109,478 compared with 2011.

Europeans are known for their diesel-buying preferences as a way to boost fuel economy, but now it appears that more and more people are starting to switch over to hybrid vehicles. Europeans upped their Toyota and Lexus hybrid purchases by a whopping 29 percent in 2012.

While the Toyota brand accounted for more than three-quarters of the approximately 109,000 units sold, about 90 percent of Lexus vehicles sold in western Europe last year were hybrids, the company said. The breakdown looked like this: 83,699 hybrids for Toyota and 25,779 for Lexus.

While the 29 percent jump is impressive, it pales in comparison to the gains Toyota made in the US last year. The Japanese automaker boosted US alt-fuel sales by 83 percent in 2012 to more than 327,000 units and accounted for about 60 percent of all the hybrids sold Stateside. Lexus accounted for about 38,000 of the hybrids Toyota sold in the US in 2012.

The first-generation Toyota Prius debuted in Europe and the United States in 2000 but the car’s first full year of sales in each market was 2001. While it took 12 years to exceed 100,000 hybrid sales a year in Europe, Toyota and Lexus needed just five years to do the same in the United States, where the brands’ combined hybrid sales topped 325,000 last year.

Users search for:

lexus is hybrid 2014 us.

Related posts:

• Toyota Prius C bests other electric cars, earns 1st place on ACEEE's greenest list
  Carmakers have provided consumers with an impressive array of efficient vehicle options for 2013 according to new environmental automotive ratings. Th...
• Zero Motorcycles announced new 2013 Zero police and security motorcycles
  Zero Motorcycles, the global leader in the electric motorcycle industry, announced the launch of its all-new 2013 Zero Police and Security line-up. In...
• US Department of Energy launches program to promote EV charging at work
  The US Department of Energy has teamed up with automakers and several other companies to boost the number of office-based charging stations tenfold wi...
• Honda Fit EV comes to the US East Coast Markets
  The all-electric 2013 Honda Fit EV, first launched in California and Oregon in July 2012, is coming to select East Coast markets later this month, Ame...
• 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid
  The new 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid is a completely redesigned midsize sedan that gains a few features that enhance convenience, safety and cabin ambienc...