Toyota Prius worldwide sales tops 3m

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. announced worldwide cumulative sales of its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car have topped 3 million. The company on its website said as of the end of June, sales of the Prius, launched in 1997 as the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger car, totaled more than 3 million. The company said after 1997, the second generation of Prius was introduced in 2003, and the third generation in 2009. "From the first to third generation, TMC greatly reduced the cost of the hybrid system by two-thirds and increased fuel efficiency" from 28 kilometers per liter to 38 kilometers per liter, the company said. "TMC will continue to conduct R&D and invest in facilities in Japan for the development of hybrid and other cutting-edge technologies and achieve sustainable growth by deploying these Japan-developed technologies across the globe," it said.