Toyota hybrids outselling Tesla electric cars nearly two to one

More than 3.5 million Toyota and Lexus hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold globally last year – or about a third of total deliveries – and outsold Tesla electric vehicles almost two to one.

And the gap is widening – despite Tesla posting record sales – as hybrid Toyota and Lexus sales grew by 953,000 vehicles last year, compared to an increase of 495,000 for Tesla.

It came in a record-breaking year for the Toyota group, which saw it report 11.2 million vehicles as sold across all of its brands globally – or 10.3 million when only the Toyota and Lexus brands are counted, and the car giant’s Daihatsu small-car and Hino truck divisions are excluded.

Sales of Toyota and Lexus ‘electrified’ vehicles in calendar-year 2023 tallied 3.68 million – comprised of 3.42 million conventional hybrids, 27,000 mild-hybrids, 125,000 plug-in hybrids, 3900 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, and 104,000 battery-electric vehicles.

It is up from 2.73 million electrified vehicles in 2022 – including 2.6 million regular hybrids and 90,000 plug-in hybrids.

In contrast, Tesla reported 1.81 million global deliveries in 2023 – up from 1.31 million the year prior.

While Tesla sales were up 37.7 per cent last year – compared to 32.5 per cent for Toyota and Lexus hybrids – the increase in vehicle sales is greater for Toyota, up 953,000 deliveries, compared to 495,000 for Tesla.

About 390,000 of the 3.68 million electrified Toyota group sales sold were Lexus vehicles.

The Toyota group appears to remain the world’s top-seller of hybrid vehicles, accounting for 35 per cent of global Toyota and Lexus sales.

It also looks to remain the top seller of electrified vehicles of all kinds. Chinese car giant BYD – which overtook Tesla in electric-car sales in the final three months of 2023 – reported 3.01 million hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles as sold last year.

The Tesla Model Y is believed to have overtaken the Toyota Corolla and RAV4 to become the world’s best-selling new car in 2023, according to preliminary figures.

Data collated by industry analytics firm Jato Dynamics reports 1.23 million deliveries for the Tesla Model Y – compared to 1.07 million RAV4s, and 1.01 million Corollas.