1,000,000 Toyota Hybrids Sold - Brad Pitt Hearts BMW Hydrogen 7

Toyota is trumpeting their most recent corporate milestone - putting one million hybrid vehicles on the road globally since the introduction of the Prius in 1997. One can hardly blame Toyota for milking the PR on this one, given that they are largely responsible for creating and stoking global demand for hybrids in the marketplace. Of the one million, 16,000 have been sold in Canada and the pace of Canadian sales for hybrids continues to quicken.

"Canadians are more concerned about the environment today than ever before, yet also realize that in a country as large and sparsely populated as ours, they need the benefits of personal transportation," Mr. Tomihara continued. "We're thrilled that so many Canadians want to make things better for the planet by making an environmentally responsible choice when purchasing a new vehicle. We're pleased that we can help by offering a broad range of clean, efficient, and powerful hybrid cars and SUVs in both our Toyota and Lexus lines."

I'm not specifically trying to focus on Toyota here, but they do seem to be putting out the most data these days to support growth for hybrids in Canada. For example, Toyota only recently added a hybrid model to their Highlander and Lexus RX line of SUVs, and already the hybrid variants for those models are making up a one-quarter, and one-third respective slice of total sales for those two models in Canada. There were more Prius units sold in May 2007 than were sold in the first 3 years the Prius model was offered in this country. This just further demonstrates the obvious point that consumers do genuinely want to do 'something' to help the environment, and one of the most logical places for consumers to act on this impulse is to choose a hybrid when shopping for a new vehicle.

Besides Toyota, what else is fueling the rise of the hybrid? Brad Pitt? Ok, not just Brad Pitt, but the whole Hollywood scene (typically liberal-minded) is getting behind the hybrid momentum in a big way, and nobody should underestimate the power of pop culture in today's society. Case in point, Brad Pitt shows up to the world premier of his new blockbuster movie 'Oceans 13' in a BMW Hydrogen 7 (which we touched on previously) and it's headline news in the mainstream media and blogosphere. Anti-war, anti-animal fur, and now you can add anti-oil to the list of all things liberal Hollywood chic.

via CNW

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