Electric vehicle makers Tesla (TSLA -0.31%) and China's BYD (BYDDY -0.09%) may be the industry's most talked about companies because they're the industry's two biggest names.
Yet, there's a third carmaker that both BYD and Tesla and their shareholders might want to start keeping a closer eye on since it's coming on strong within the electrified vehicle market.
That's automobile maker Toyota Motor (TM +1.38%). Yes, that Toyota.
Missing the boat (so to speak)
Most investors probably know that Toyota has been tinkering with hybrids and even battery-only vehicles for a while now. What these investors might not fully appreciate is just how deep the world's biggest carmaker has waded into the electric vehicle market.
For the quarter ended in June, 1.41 million (or 51.9%) of the 2.71 million automobiles that Toyota manufactured during that three-month stretch were electric rather than combustion-powered.
Image source: Getty Images.
The vast majority of these cars were hybrids, which are distinctly different from all of the EVs made by Tesla, and roughly half the so-called new-energy vehicles manufactured by BYD. Teslas are only powered by a rechargeable battery, whereas hybrids combine battery power with a combustion engine, making them practical even when recharging them is impractical.
The thing is, Toyota's dedication to the continued development of its hybrid automobile business may be a brilliant one despite all the hype being generated by the proliferation of battery-only electric vehicles. For perspective, while sales of battery-electric vehicles (or BEVs) within the United States grew slightly to 1.26 million cars in 2025, according to data from the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), hybrid sales quietly but decisively topped that figure at 2.05 million, up 27.6% year over year.
NYSE: TM
Key Data Points
And the U.S. market hasn't been particularly receptive to either alternative to conventional combustion-powered automobiles. Of the roughly 90 million cars that were sold worldwide last year, industry research outfit Imarc reports nearly 16.3 million were hybrids, up 24.8% year over year, easily outpacing sales and sales growth of battery-only EVs. Electric vehicle market leaders Tesla and BYD only delivered 3.86 million BEVs between them last year, for reference.
Moreover, Imarc expects hybrid automobile sales to reach nearly 126 million units per year by 2034, once consumers recognize this option sidesteps most of the concerns that are crimping interest in battery-only EVs here and abroad. Already the leading name of the hybrid market with last fiscal year's sales of over 4.6 million hybrid cars, Toyota stands ready to capture at least its fair share of this growth.
A development that's too big to ignore
Only time will tell whether hybrids will displace battery-only EVs, or if there's room for both options. What is clear is that the demand for hybrids is very real, and growing, posing at least an indirect threat to Tesla, which is already contending with a formidable BYD on the electric vehicle front. In the meantime, BYD is also becoming a respectable contender in the hybrid business that's proving a marketable alternative to BEVs.
Arguably more than anything, though, Toyota may be an investment prospect that too many investors are looking right past, assuming it's no longer relevant. It very much is.
