Fourth consecutive year of sales growth for Toyota Motor Europe in 2014 with record hybrid sales

• Toyota Motor Europe (TME) sales exceeded 888,000 units this year, up by 4.6%, better than the estimated market(1) growth of 1.5%
• All time hybrid sales record of over 178,000 units, up 13% from 2013
• TME’s market share reached 4.8%
• Lexus sales up by 23%, reaching 53,230 units, with hybrid representing 98% of sales in Western Europe
• Top Performers : Yaris (181.000 units), Auris Range (142.000 units), RAV4 (101.000 units) - Corolla (83.300 units) and Camry (40.000 units) specifically in Eastern Europe

Brussels, Belgium, January 14, 2015 -- Toyota Motor Europe (TME) today posted 2014 full year sales of 888,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles, representing an increase of more than 39,000 units, up 4.6% from 2013 and surpassing the company’s target of 865,000 sales. The group’s market share reached 4.8% for the year. The sales of Toyota brand reached 834,785 units, while sales of Lexus vehicles reached 53,230 units. TME sales results were driven mainly by the increase of sales in Western Europe (+4.2%) and Central Europe (+20%) while sales in Eastern Europe grew by 2.8%.

Karl Schlicht, Executive Vice- President of TME said: “Our team is thrilled to have achieved its fourth consecutive year-on-year growth in the Europe region, and to continue to do so profitably. This is the result of our strategy to bring innovation and much stronger products to European customers. Our continuing growth in hybrid sales shows that by combining our proven hybrid technology with appealing products like Yaris, Auris, Auris Touring Sports and Lexus models, we can attract more customers to our brands in a highly competitive market. We are also very pleased that we managed to increase sales in Western and Central Europe, and even in Eastern Europe despite a very challenging environment."

Hybrid Highlights

Toyota Hybrid models reached 145,400 units in 2014, representing a 9% increase versus last year. Lexus Hybrid sales increased by 36% year-on-year with 32,655 hybrid vehicles sold during the year , thanks to the excellent sales of the new IS hybrid and the good performance of the CT 200h. Lexus Hybrid represents 61% of the total Lexus sales, reaching 98% in Western Europe and 19% in Eastern Europe.

In total, hybrid sales reached over 178,000 in 2014, bringing the cumulative hybrid sales of Toyota and Lexus in Europe to more than 840,000 vehicles since the sale of the first Prius in Europe in 2000. Hybrid sales of Toyota and Lexus represent 20% of sales for TME. In Western Europe, one third of all sales are Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles, up by 2% points vs 2013.

The Toyota Auris Hybrid Touring Sports has performed particularly well with sales reaching 36,200 units.  Half of all Toyota Auris vehicles sold in Europe were Hybrid. The Toyota Yaris Hybrid achieved a 17% increase in sales versus 2013 to 58,530 units, showing the successful launch of the new redesigned model after the summer.

Toyota Highlights

In 2014, Toyota launched the all new Aygo and the new Yaris in the A and B-segments. Both models have strengthened Toyota product offering and have showed a very strong performance. Although NG Aygo launch was staggered over the last 6 months of 2014, Aygo sales increased by 8.6%.

Auris family sales increased by 7.5% versus last year in very competitive segments.
Sales of the Toyota Auris range reached 142,100 units, led by the strong performance of the Auris Hybrid Touring Sports. Sales of the Corolla increased by a strong 22% to reach 83,300 units – nearly 70% of which in Israel, Russia and Turkey.

RAV4 sales performed very well with sales reaching 101,100 units, passing the 100,000 mark again for the first time since 2007, a 6.1% increase compared to 2013.

Toyota achieved an all- time record sales in Kazakhstan and Israel. Market share records have been achieved in Ukraine and Kazakhstan with estimated 10.1% and 8.2% market shares respectively for both Toyota and Lexus brands.

Lexus Highlights

Lexus concluded a very successful year, marked by the launch of the first ever NX compact premium SUV.

Lexus sales increased by 23% to 53,230 units, an increase of nearly 10,000 units versus 2013. Sales were strong throughout the year with the very good performance of the new IS and CT200h, and benefited from the first sales of the new NX at the end of the year.

Thanks to this year’s good performance, Lexus continues to be one of the fastest growing premium brands in Europe.

Thanks to strong demand for the model, IS Sales have increased by 52% to reach 11,520 units, out of which 79% are hybrid.

CT 200h sales have also shown a very good performance with sales reaching 10,340 units, representing a 9.8% increase versus 2013.

The recently launched NX has performed extremely well with over 5,700 sales in only 3 months and about 10,000 customer contracts are waiting for delivery, confirming that NX is being received very positively by customers. We expect the new NX to contribute to 1/3rd of Lexus sales in 2015.

Lexus Europe sales achieved an all-time sales record in 6 markets : France, Norway, Poland, Russia, Israel and Caucasus.

###

⁽¹⁾ Toyota Motor Europe is responsible for all Western, Central and Eastern European countries including Turkey and Russia as well as Israel and a number of Central Asian markets (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).

Models listed in italics are produced locally at Toyota’s European manufacturing facilities.

Notes to the editors:

Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA (TME) oversees the wholesale sales and marketing of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, parts and accessories, and Toyota’s European manufacturing and engineering operations. Toyota directly employs around 20,000 people in Europe and has invested over EUR 8 billion since 1990. Toyota’s operations in Europe are supported by a network of 30 National Marketing and Sales Companies across 56 countries, a total of around 3,000 sales outlets, and nine manufacturing plants. In calendar year 2014, Toyota sold 888,015 Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Europe. For more information, visit www.toyota-europe.com