Lexus has already taken 3,000 orders for the new HS250h, its first hybrid-only sedan which has been launched in Japan.
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Toyota senior managing director Toshio Furutani said the automaker has already received strong demand for the HS250h, eclipsing its monthly domestic target of 500 units thanks to recent government tax breaks and subsidies for energy-saving vehicles.
The petrol-electric model, with a fuel efficiency of 23km/litre, is expected to be rolled out in the USA and Canada in September with a sales target of 2,400 units a month.
Despite anticipating huge losses for a second consecutive year, hybrid sales have been a rare bright spot for Toyota which saw its new Prius hybrid quickly become the best selling car in Japan for June.
In the first six months of this year Lexus sales plunged 38% from the same period in 2008 to 9,293 units. About 30% of those were hybrids.
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By GlobalDataSeparately the Japanese industry daily Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun said Toyota has decided to produce a petrol-electric version of its Auris hatchback at its British factory around 2012, in what would mark its first locally produced hybrid car in Europe.
Toyota said it could not comment on future product plans. Similar news was reported here in the UK at the end of June though production was said to be starting before the end of 2009.
The Auris, part of the popular Corolla series, was Toyota’s third best selling model in Europe during the first five months of this year after the Yaris and Aygo subcompact models.
