Toyota has today claimed that it is responsible for more than 75% of the UK hybrid car market since 2007.

Out of almost 100,000 hybrid cars sold from 2007 to the end of March this year, 77,000 were Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) cars, either from everyday brand Toyota or its upmarket subsidiary Lexus.

Over the same period hybrid cars nearly doubled their overall market share, from 0.7% to 1.3%. With many other manufacturers now catching up with their own hybrid development programmes that figure is set to expand much further in the coming years.

TMC stole a huge march on their competitors by introducing the first Prius in Japan in 1997. It was rolled out worldwide in 2001 but few competitors believed it would succeed and hesitated to develop a rival system. In February this year TMC sold its 2.5 millionth Prius.

Toyota's remains the only truly commercially successful self-contained `full hybrid' system, where the engine does not need to run constantly in the background and no cables are required.

With the advent of plug-in hybrids that can more easily exclude the engine from the drivetrain altogether, and for longer periods, Toyota has developed a plug-in version of its Prius.

It uses the same full hybrid system, with the addition of a larger battery to provide extended running on electric power alone.