Toyota is betting everything on hybrids... and it has the upper hand

The electrification of the international market continues to advance, and all brands are betting on electric mobility. But they are not all on the same path; there are several types of electrified vehicles. Electric cars are growing in sales, but cars with internal combustion engines remain present in the market and are not losing strength. Of all the variants of electrified cars, traditional hybrids are the ones recording the most sales.

Looking at this type of vehicle, we find a brand that dominates the market. It is Toyota, which for years has led hybrid car sales. And not content with this, the brand announces that it will increase production of this type of car by 30% over two years.

Leader in hybrid sales

Throughout 2025, Toyota sold 10,536,807 units, of which 4,994,000 were electrified cars. And of those, 4,433,000 were hybrid cars. Hybrid car sales forecasts expect to reach five million units sold, and by 2027 they are expected to reach 6.7 million hybrid units sold.

With these expectations, the share of hybrid vehicles will rise from almost 50% to nearly 60% of the cars sold by the Japanese brand. Toyota is expected to produce 11.3 million vehicles in 2028. This means that hybrid production will exceed the planned total for all models.

One of the markets that will grow the most in this respect is the United States. Toyota is expected to invest about 10 billion dollars in this market over the next five years. Most of this investment will go into upgrading five plants dedicated to manufacturing hybrid engines and related components for this type of propulsion.

Some models are achieving a fairly significant market share internationally. Hybrid versions of the RAV4, the Tacoma and the Camry have been launched, selling in several markets and strengthening the brand’s presence in various countries. In the United States, incidentally, assembly of a hybrid Toyota Corolla is about to begin, which will reinforce the model’s presence in one of the brand’s most important markets.

Meanwhile, electric cars will be relegated to a secondary role, while investment in hybrid cars grows. At least over this five-year horizon, the company plans to boost production of these hybrid cars without having to change strategy unexpectedly, as has happened to other brands.