Toyota Prius Enters Realm of Top Three Worldwide

We see a lot of Toyota Prius hybrids around town, but we thought it was just a Southern California thing—apparently, it’s not. In what’s sure to surprise many in the industry, the Toyota Prius was the third bestselling car in the world year over year.

Propelled by strong U.S. sales, the Prius was outsold only by the Toyota Corolla with just over 300,000 models sold, and the Ford Focus with 277,000 sold. Moving nearly a quarter-million units, the Toyota Prius is easily beating all expectations, and if nothing else, signals success for Toyota’s hybrid experiment. When the Prius first debuted, the car was a relatively unattractive sedan with a stripped-down interior, and was almost singularly focused on fuel economy; while today’s models are better, much of that still holds true. But so too does the promise of efficiency, one which the Prius has consistently delivered. A 2012 Toyota Prius C gets an EPA estimated 53 mpg highway and 46 mpg in town.

Currently the Toyota Prius family includes the Prius C, Prius V wagon, and Prius plug-in hybrid. The Prius has helped propel Toyota back to the top spot among automakers globally, and has outsold popular models such as the Hyundai Elantra; Volkswagen Golf; Ford Fiesta; Chevy Cruze; and Honda Civic; among others.

Source: Bloomberg