Toyota hybrid sales in Europe up 17% in 2015, representing 24% of total TME sales
14 January 2016
Despite the lowest gasoline prices in Europe in 5 years, Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) sales of hybrid vehicles continued their 5-year increase to reach 209,000 units for the full year 2015, up 17% year-on-year. Sales of Toyota and Lexus-branded hybrid vehicles now represent 24% of the group’s sales on the continent, up from 20% a year ago. In Western Europe only, sales of hybrid represent a third of total sales. Overall sales of Toyota and Lexus vehicles were 874,000 units in 2015, a drop of 1.5% year-on-year.
Within those hybrid sales, the Yaris hybrid recorded sales of 72,000 in 2015, up 23% versus last year, showing that hybrid technology is accessible even on a B-segment vehicle. More than one in three Yaris sold in Europe is a hybrid.
The new Auris hybrid also did extremely well with an increase of 12% year-on-year at 78,500 sales. More than half of all Auris sold by Toyota are hybrid.
For the Lexus premium brand, hybrid sales increased by 24% to reach 41,000 units. Lexus Hybrid Drive vehicles make up 64% of total Lexus sales across the continent, and reach 96% of sales in Western Europe alone.
With sales of both the new generation Prius and the new RAV4 hybrid about to start, the irreversible drive towards ever more hybrid sales in Europe will continue in 2016. We aim to reach more than 400,000 sales by 2020.
—Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe
TME said that its overall sales results reflected two trends last year:
Sustained growth in Western Europe (+7%) and Central Europe (+18%).
A decline in sales in Eastern Europe (Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the Caucasus region) in line with the very strong market decline (-36%). (Earlier post.)
The group’s overall market share stood at 4.6%.
Sales of European-produced Toyota vehicles increased by 27,000 units (+5%) and now represent 71% of the total sales (+6% points versus last year).
The new AYGO reached 89,000 sales, a 26% increase year-on-year, continuing to perform strongly in its second year post launch. The newly redesigned Yaris increased sales by 11% to 201,000 units. The new Auris and Avensis, both updated in 2015, have been well received, with 142,000 sales for Auris (stable in a declining segment) and 35,000 sales for Avensis (+17%), with both models’ new interior and exterior designs, and powertrain enhancements earning praise.
2016 will see the arrival on the market of new or redesigned models: the new Prius; the RAV4 hybrid; the new Hilux, and the new PROACE.
Lexus achieved its best sales yet in Europe in 2015. Sales increased by 20% year-on-year to reach nearly 64,000 units.
Lexus sales increased in Western Europe by 31%, in Central Europe by 50% and by 1% in Eastern Europe, despite the challenging environment. The market share in those respective regions increased to 1.2% (+0.2% points increase) in Western Europe, 3.6% (+0.8% points) in Central Europe and a record 12.2% (+3% points increase) in Eastern Europe versus last year.
In a line-up now comprising 9 different models covering the main premium segments, the NX became Lexus’ best seller with 28,000 sales, 61% of which were hybrid. The new RX, launching now, will bring a significant increase in sales in 2016.
Hybrids sale at 33% of total Toyota sales in western Europe is a real accomplishment!
Hybrids with improved lower cost higher capacity batteries, good for 30+ Km e-range, could sell even much better in 2018?
Posted by: HarveyD | 14 January 2016 at 01:00 PM
Part of the reason is that petrol and diesel are still expensive in Europe as so much of the price is tax which does not decline with oil prices.
For Instance, diesel is about e1.06 / litre, petrol about e1.20.
Also, people are getting the message that diesels are a bad idea in cities, and so would switch to petrol or hybrids.
Posted by: mahonj | 14 January 2016 at 01:58 PM
24% of total TME sales..amazing!
Posted by: SJC | 14 January 2016 at 03:26 PM
24% of all sales is a nice result from Toyota but I am still very dissatisfied with their plugin play. There is no Toyota EV on the horizon which could fight the Tesla ModE or the Bolt.
Posted by: soltesza | 19 January 2016 at 09:07 AM
Toyota may be of the right track with their excellent HEVs. The 2040 forecast is for many more 60/65 mpg Hybrids.
One could hope that, with improved batteries, Toyota would produce more PHEVs with better e-range from 2018/2020 onward.
PHEVs with a smaller battery pack + a small FC could be a good clean combination to complement current FCEVs?
Toyota's BEVs may not be mass produced much before 2020/2022 or so or whenever improved affordable solid states batteries are available? The current FCEV could be a good BEV platform?
Posted by: HarveyD | 25 January 2016 at 12:34 PM
It might be no good to increase battery capacity regarding costs but also efficiency. Global efficiency should be considered on the complete energy cycle, not only on the vehicle. In addition, energy conversions should be minimized to decrease the unavoidable associated losses and consequently battery should be small. I trust Toyota to well known the matter.
Posted by: Vupilla | 26 January 2016 at 08:29 AM
See my latest article published today on Seeking Alpha (http://seekingalpha.com/article/3847866-low-oil-prices-cause-toyota-hybrids-fade) where I find a positive, causal, unidirectional mechanism running from oil prices to Toyota's hybrid sales. This puts into question TM's medium- and long-term "green car" business strategy, which is pretty much linked to hybrid and fuel cell cars. In times of low oil prices, sales of conventional hybrids are likely to be affected more seriously than those of plug-ins, regardless of whether they're lithium-powered or not. This provides support to my 2009 contention that use of lithium in hybrids may be a short-lived approach to be surpassed by another relying on REEVs and all-electric cars.
Posted by: Juan Carlos Zuleta Calderón | 29 January 2016 at 04:34 PM