Toyota's hybrid bet: behind on EVs, or just careful?
Fewer than 2 in 100 Toyotas sold in 2025 were fully electric. Almost half were hybrids. We checked Toyota's own sales, profit and targets to see whether that is a weakness or a strategy.
A carmaker that went hybrid, not electric
Toyota sold 10.5 million Toyota and Lexus cars in 2025, a record. 4.6 million of them were hybrids, 184,000 were plug-in hybrids and 199,000 were fully electric. In the first nine months of 2026 hybrids rose to almost half of all sales (48%), and fully electric cars passed 4%.
Hybrids keep growing
While most carmakers argued about when to stop selling combustion engines, Toyota kept selling more hybrids every year: 3.4 million in 2023, 4.2 million in 2024, 4.6 million in 2025. In August 2026 it said it plans to sell more than 5 million in 2026, the first time.
The electric promise, and what happened
In December 2021 Toyota announced 3.5 million fully electric cars a year by 2030 and 30 electric models. In April 2023 it added a pace of 1.5 million a year by 2026. Its latest annual report, from June 2026, keeps the 2030 goal “with a flexible approach” but no longer repeats the 2026 figure. Toyota's own forecast for April 2026 to March 2027 is now 463,000 fully electric cars. It has been cut twice: from 598,000 in May to 533,000 in August, and again on 5 November, when Toyota lowered its electrified forecasts mainly because of a slower Chinese market.
Electric sales are still growing fast from a low base: 309,766 in January–September 2026, 56% more than in the whole of 2025. In the April–June 2026 quarter Toyota also booked a provision for a “review of BEV development projects” and did not disclose the amount. On 5 November it described its plan to 2030 as electric cars built “on top of a robust foundation” of 10 million vehicles centred on hybrids.
Where the hybrids sell
Toyota's electrified share is highest in Europe, where 87% of the cars it sold in January–September 2026 had some form of electric drive. In North America it passed half in 2026: 56%, up from 47% in 2025.
Does the bet pay?
Hybrids have been Toyota's profit engine: the company says demand “centered on HEVs” held up its results. But margins have fallen. Automotive operating margin went from 11.2% in the year to March 2024 to 6.1% in the year to March 2026, when U.S. tariffs cost Toyota about $9.1 billion. It was 6.7% in April–September 2026, the same as a year earlier, and on 5 November Toyota raised its full-year operating profit forecast by 15%, to about $24.8 billion. At the same time it is spending more on the future: research and development rose 27% over those two years, to about $10.1 billion.
Toyota is also preparing next-generation batteries. It plans electric cars with all-solid-state batteries for 2027–28 with partners Idemitsu and Sumitomo Metal Mining, and its North Carolina battery plant started supplying batteries in 2025 for hybrids and a planned three-row electric SUV.
The verdict depends on what you measure
Toyota is behind on fully electric cars by any measure, and its 2026 electric goal quietly disappeared. But it is not behind on electrification: almost every second car it sells has an electric motor, and that share keeps rising. The open question is whether hybrids are a bridge to electric cars, or a destination.
Every company, explained from its own reports
Open Toyota in Whatco: who owns it, how it makes money and the numbers that matter. Compare it with Tesla, BYD or Volkswagen side by side.
Get Whatco on the App Store
