Toyota introduced the first mass-produced hybrid electric car, the Toyota Prius, in 1997.
Toyota developed the Prius as part of its effort to create a practical, lower-emission “car for the 21st century.” The first-generation model, designated NHW10, went on sale in Japan on December 10, 1997. It combined a gasoline engine with an electric motor and battery system, allowing the powertrain to switch between or blend both sources.
The original Prius was initially sold only in Japan through Toyota’s four domestic dealership networks. Toyota began exporting an updated version in 2000, and the model reached the United States and Europe soon afterward. That global launch helped make hybrid technology familiar to mainstream drivers.
A common mix-up is Honda’s Insight, which was an important early hybrid but arrived later, in 1999. The Prius was not the first hybrid vehicle ever built; gasoline-electric experiments and limited-production cars existed decades earlier. Its distinction was being the first hybrid car produced and sold at mass-market scale.