The marque has posted 2013 full-year sales of 847,540 Toyota and Lexus vehicles, an increase of 9,569 units or 1.41% from 2012. Sales of Toyota branded vehicles increased to 804,259 units while sales of Lexus vehicles reached 43,281 units during the year.

Sales of hybrid models totalled 156,863 units, up 43% year-on-year and driving a 0.2 percentage point market share gain for TME to 4.7% in 2013. Hybrid models now make up close to a fifth of total TME sales. In Western Europe, 28% of all Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold are hybrid models, with the percentage rising to 94% for Lexus alone.

Karl Schlicht, executive vice-president of TME, said: ‘Our hybrid models – the majority of which were produced locally in Europe – continued on a successful upward trend. Together with our strong C-segment product offensive in both Western and Eastern Europe means that we’ve grown sustainably for the third consecutive year even as the automotive market we operate in shrank by an estimated 2%.’

Notable performances were put in by the Yaris Hybrid, which ended the year with sales more than doubling year-on-year reaching 49,774 units, an increase of 25,041 units from 2012.

And 2013 was a record year of sales for the Toyota Auris Hybrid, topping 39,348 units (up 66% from 2012).

Meanwhile the Auris Touring Sports Hybrid, launched last year, accounted for 60% (15,175 units) of all Auris Touring Sports sold during the year.

Elsewhere within the Toyota line-up, the Toyota Corolla saw strong demand. December proved to be a record month for the model, with sales reaching 9,384 units, up 45% from the same month in 2012. During the full 12-month period, Corolla sales increased by 7% year-on-year to 67,987 units.

Meanwhile, the new Toyota RAV4, launched earlier in the year, proved popular in Europe with year-on-year sales increasing by 42% to 95,168 units.

Looking at individual markets, an annual Toyota sales record was set in the Caucasus, Israel and Kazakhstan in 2013.

Within Lexus, full-year sales of the IS range tripled year-on-year to 7,562 units, with some 80% belonging to the hybrid variant, proving to be a major challenger in a segment traditionally dominated by diesel powertrains.

The upward sales trend of the Lexus ES continued with a record month of sales in December. Year-end sales of the ES range totalled 2,673 units.

Sales of the Lexus LS more than doubled year-on-year in 2013 with sales of 952 units.

Lexus achieved record annual sales volumes in six European markets in 2013 including: Russia, France, Kazakhstan, Israel, Norway and the Caucasus.