Toyota's sales of hybrid vehicles passes the half million mark

Toyota announced on Friday it had surpassed 513,000 hybrid vehicles sold worldwide since it started selling the gasoline-electric hybrid in 1997. That total includes the 194,800 units sold during the January to October period this year , exceeding the 134,700 sold in all of 2004, Toyota said in a statement.

Toyota hopes to sell 1 million units a year starting in 2010.