“I foresee hybrid models pretty soon reaching 20 percent of global sales from about 13 percent to 14 percent now,” Uchiyamada told Automotive News Europe.
Although now within reach, that kind of market share was almost unimaginable when Uchiyamada began developing the first-generation Prius in 1993. Gas-electric technology took years to refine, and even longer to catch on with the buying public. In fact, the Prius sold in relatively small global quantities until 2004.
Toyota has gone on to sell more than 6 million hybrids worldwide since, with the Prius accounting for most of those sales. The Prius remains popular in Japan and the United States, but has struggled to gain a foothold in Europe where diesels still reign supreme. However, that could soon change as Volkswagen plans to launch new plug-in hybrid models in Europe beginning this year.
Uchiyamada says Toyota is “closely watching what our competitors are doing,” but noted that high costs will likely limit the company’s plug-in hybrid offerings for the foreseeable future.
“Suppliers need higher volumes to slash costs of components specific to plug-in models, including batteries that should be bigger and more capable than the ones used in traditional hybrids,” he said.
Toyota currently offers 25 hybrids, but just one plug-in hybrid.
Leave a Reply