Toyota’s bet on hybrid cars seems to be paying off as it rides consumer skepticism of an all-EV future to maintain its lead as the world’s top selling automaker

(Credit: YOSHIKAZU TSUNO—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)

Hybrid or battery electric vehicles? That debate has been heating up within the auto industry for the past few years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk thinks hybrid vehicles are just a phase, while Toyota’s chairman and former CEO, Akio Toyoda, has long been skeptical of going all in on fully electric vehicles.

And so far, it seems that its skepticism of electric vehicles is working just fine for Toyota. The Japanese automaker’s latest monthly report showed it sold 322,463 hybrids in November, bringing its total hybrid sales for the year to 3.1 million, a 30% increase from the year prior.