According to Toyota Motor North America, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company's Toyota and Lexus brands sold 619661 vehicles in the United States, an increase of 15% year-on-year. The company sold more than 2.24 million vehicles for the year, up 7% year-over-year.
Behind this achievement is the company's unremitting efforts in the field of electrification. Last year, the company expanded its product lineup of new energy vehicles, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, to 26 models and expanded sales.
In the fourth quarter, the company's total EV sales reached a record 202185 units, up 61% year-on-year, accounting for 32.6% of the group's total sales. Among them, the sales volume of new energy vehicles under the Toyota brand was 172978 units, up 56% year-on-year, accounting for 33% of the brand's total sales, and the sales volume of new energy vehicles under the Lexus brand was 29,207 units, up 94% year-on-year, accounting for 30.4% of the brand's total sales.
In 2023, the company's total NEV sales increased by more than 30% to 657327 units, accounting for 29% of sales. At the same time, sales of rechargeable cars, especially all-electric vehicles, are growing faster. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the company sold 16,657 plug-in electric vehicles, up 58% year-over-year and accounting for 2.7% of total sales. Notably, BEV sales increased by 459% to 5,718 units and quickly caught up with plug-in hybrids (10,939 units).
Among the models, the RAV4 Prime, a plug-in hybrid, ranked first with 7,222 units sold. The all-electric bZ4X surpassed the Prius Prime with 2,843 units sold, but finished behind its sister model, the Lexus RZ (2,875 units).
In 2023, the Toyota bZ4X sold 9,329 units, making it the best-selling plug-in model after the RAV4 Prime, accounting for nearly half of the company's plug-in model sales. With the addition of 5,386 Lexus RZs, the company's BEV sales stood at 14,715 units. Subaru sold an additional 8,872 units, so the total sales of these three closely related models for the year was 23,587 units. Notably, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Toyota Mirai set a new annual sales record of 2,737 units, an increase of nearly 31% year-on-year.
In 2023, Toyota managed to set a new record for plug-in electric vehicle sales. This is the result of a surge in BEV sales, as plug-in hybrid sales are actually lower than in 2021 (39,551 vs. 52,767).