Transportation
Hybrids Delivering Cash Chest for Toyota, Honda’s EV Ambitions
- Decelerating EV vehicle demand replaced by interest in hybrids
- Carmakers shift efforts toward making more gas-electric cars
A Toyota Motor Corp. Prius plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Hybrid sales jumped 32% to 3.59 million units, accounting for one out of every three cars Toyota sells.
Photographer: Nicholas Takahashi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When Toyota Motor Corp. introduced the world’s first hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle in 1997, it made a loss on every Prius it sold. Decades later, booming sales in the category are delivering a much welcome cash boost.
The world’s largest auto manufacturer recently reported annual operating profit of ¥5 trillion ($32 billion), the first time any Japanese company reached that threshold, with an industry-topping margin of 11.9%. Hybrid sales jumped 32% to 3.59 million units, accounting for one out of every three cars Toyota sells.