Toyota plans to increase the production of hybrid vehicles in Japan in order so that by 2016 every second car sold locally is a hybrid.
In 2014, the company sold 684,000 hybrids in Japan. These vehicles accounted for 44% of Toyota’s domestic sales. In 2016, Toyota expects to sell 760,000 units, Nikkei Asian Review reported.
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Compared with 2014, Toyota expects domestic production of hybrids to increase by around 30% to 1.32m units in 2016. This would lead to hybrids accounting for over 40% of total vehicles manufactured by the company in Japan.
Going forward, hybrids are expected to make up 40% of all vehicles sold by Toyota in the country, as the company plans to launch the redesigned Prius hybrid in 2015 and a plug-in type vehicle which will be able to travel 60km on battery power, in 2016. Additionally, Toyota is expected to begin production of a compact hybrid SUV [the RAV4 just announced] in 2016.
