Hybrid Car Review

Toyota Billboard Marks 100 Million Gallons of Gas Saved by Driving Hybrids -- press release from Toyota

November 28, 2005 - Torrance, CA - While most of America was fueling up with turkey and fixings over the holiday weekend, a Toyota billboard marked a significant milestone in reducing fuel consumption.

The billboard, located beside the 405 Freeway in El Segundo, Calif., is similar to an odometer and clicks forward every four seconds to estimate the number of gallons of gas saved by Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles in the United States since the first Toyota Prius went on sale in 2000. On Friday, November 25, the billboard clicked over to 100,000,000 gallons saved…and is still counting.

"Every hybrid owner who passes a gas station knows they are using less fuel, but to look at that figure in total is truly impressive," said Toyota Vice President of Marketing Jim Farley. "The purpose of the billboard is to visually capture one of the most significant benefits of driving a vehicle with Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive."

Other environmental benefits of the more than 250,000 Toyota and Lexus hybrids that have logged more than 5 billion miles include:
• Avoiding nearly 900,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere
• Allowing the savings of 4 million barrels of crude oil
• Avoiding more than 3 million pounds of smog-forming gases

Currently, there are three hybrid offerings from Toyota and Lexus, all of which are at least 80 percent cleaner for smog-forming emissions than the average vehicle. The Prius is the world's best-selling hybrid while the Highlander Hybrid and RX 400h luxury hybrid SUV are the two best-selling hybrid SUVs. Both SUVs offer V8-like performance with fuel mileage comparable to 4-cylinder cars.

Next year, Lexus will introduce the GS 450h hybrid luxury sedan and Toyota will make a hybrid powertrain available in America's most popular sedan, the Camry.

Worldwide, Toyota has sold more than 500,000 hybrids since 1997 and hopes to increase that number to a million hybrids a year by the early 2010s. To achieve that goal, Toyota plans to halve the cost of hybrid powertrains as early as possible.