Toyota hybrid sales top 7 million

Toyota has announced that its global hybrid sales have collectively surpassed seven million units.

The milestone includes both Toyota and Lexus models, which have accounted for a million hybrid sales just in the first nine months of the year.

The company credits 27 different hybrid passenger cars and one plug-in model for helping drive sales in more than 90 countries around the globe. Currently, its 12 hybrid models and one plug-in vehicle in the US market are claimed to account for 70 percent of industry hybrid sales.

“In 2000, Toyota introduced its Prius hybrid to the U.S., a marquee vehicle that established mainstream adoption of hybrid technology,” Toyota said in a statement. “Today, Toyota and Lexus hybrid sales in the U.S. are well over 2 million, and the Prius is on its way to becoming the no. 1 selling vehicle in California for the third year in a row.”

The Japanese automaker promises to launch 15 new hybrids globally through 2015, serving as its core electrified vehicles alongside pure electrics and a fuel-cell model.