Over half of the now more than a half-million Toyota Prius vehicles (shown above) sold in the worldwide automobile market were in the United States, showing that the hybrid vehicle is not some random “fad” that will die out quickly, but rather a trend in automobile technology that is here to stay and that makes a significant impact on people’s lives. More and more people are buying hybrid vehicles for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to save a few bucks on gas when you fill up at the pump, to make an environmental statement, or maybe just to have a car that everyone agrees is pretty cool.

Yahoo news reports today that Toyota has announced that since the Prius has really hit the market in force with the release of the second generation model in fall 2003 (the 04 model) and has cemented the notion in their minds that hybrid markets exist, people are willing to pay more for a hybrid vehicle, and have gone on to expand hybrid technology to other cars in the Toyota brand and others in their Lexus line of luxury vehicles.

[ Yahoo! :: Toyota’s Hybrid Prius Sales Top 500,000 Worldwide ]