Toyota retains the number one position in the second annual Best Global Green Brands report, published by international brand consultancy Interbrand this week.
The report gauges the gap between public perception of a brand’s environmental performance – its “green image” – and its actual environmental practices, using publicly available data and information.
Interbrand credits Toyota’s achievement to the fact it continues to make environmental sustainability a core priority, and it cites the expansion of the world’s first mass-produced full hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Prius, into a full family of models as a further success story for the company.
Worldwide sales of Toyota’s full hybrid vehicles passed four million at the end of April this year. In the UK Toyota has sold more than 95,000 Toyota and Lexus hybrids since 2000.
This is a landmark year in the development of Prius in the UK with the introduction of the seven-seater Prius+ and Prius Plug-in alongside the established, third generation Prius hatchback. This extension of the range to create a family of models makes the environmental benefits of Prius’s hybrid technology available to a wider range of customers, with different motoring needs. Toyota has also brought its full hybrid technology to the supermini market for the first time, with the recent introduction of the European-built Yaris Hybrid.
Toyota is aiming to reduce carbon emissions throughout the complete manufacturing and sales processes. It is also working towards conserving natural resources through reuse and recycling of materials. Toyota’s UK factory is one of the company’s global flagships for best environmental practice in terms of reducing waste and energy consumption and in harnessing power from renewable sources using one of the country’s largest arrays of solar panels.
