Toyota launched the Prius in December 1997 and created a 10-million-car hybrid franchise

Toyota announced the Prius in October 1997 and put it on sale in Japan on December 10 that year at ¥2.15 million — the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle, powered by a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor. In its first day it took about 2,000 orders, double Toyota's initial target of 1,000 a month.

The launch came as the Asian financial crisis hit Japan and the region, and the car was initially a niche product for early adopters. Its first-year sales were in the thousands, and rivals dismissed hybrids as a costly curiosity — but Toyota kept developing the Toyota Hybrid System rather than cutting the program in the downturn.

Twenty years later the bet had become a franchise: as of January 31, 2017 cumulative global sales of Toyota hybrids passed 10.05 million, with 34 hybrid models sold in more than 90 countries. Prius development leader Takeshi Uchiyamada recalled that when it launched, "no one even knew what a hybrid was" — and by 2017 hybrids were mainstream.

Prius took ~2,000 orders in its first day against a 1,000-a-month target; by January 2017 Toyota's cumulative hybrid sales passed 10 million.

Launching during the crisis committed Toyota to fuel efficiency at the moment cheap fuel made it look unnecessary.

The platform approach — evolving the system and spreading it across the lineup — multiplied the payoff.

Rivals' skepticism let Toyota own the hybrid category for a decade before competition arrived.

A product launched at the wrong moment can become the franchise of the next decade — if the company keeps funding it through the doubts.

The Prius became a byword for environmentally friendly cars and pushed the entire industry toward electrified powertrains. By 2017 Toyota estimated its hybrids had saved roughly 29 million kiloliters of gasoline and about 77 million tons of CO2 versus equivalent conventional cars, and hybrid technology anchored its environmental strategy for the next generation.