Toyota’s Hybrids Hit 9 Million Units Sold, The Japanese Want 15 Million by 2020

But they won’t stop there.

Ever since the first-generation Prius reached the market in August 1997 and opened the public's appetite for PHEVs, a lot of Toyota's efforts have been directed towards keeping that trend – and subsequently, sales – up and running.

As per April 30, the Japanese giant announced that the cumulative figures for global sales of its hybrid vehicles reached 9.014 million. What's more important, the jump from 8 million to 9 million hybrids sold across the world only took nine months to complete.

Furthermore, 2015 saw Toyota adding a new hybrid variant to their lineup. We're talking about the Sienta minivan, followed by the launch of the fourth-gen Prius and the RAV4 hybrid SUV, plus the introduction of two hybrid derivatives targeting the Chinese market: Corolla and Levin.

If we draw the line and sum up, the result tells us that, at the time of writing, Toyota is selling 33 hybrid passenger models and one plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in over 90 countries and regions. But the Japanese brand doesn't show any signs of stopping here. Toyota officials say their aim is to sell 15 million hybrid units by 2020, at a steady rate of 1.5 million PHEVs every year.

To do so, they'll also have to fulfill the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, which is essentially a set of goals meant to generate a friendly interaction with the environment through lowering CO2 emissions, recycling, and optimizing water usage.