Toyota Prius Top Selling Car in Japan

Toyota Motors whose popular hybrid car Prius posted top-most sales in Japan for the 6th consecutive month.  Apart from being an fuel efficient car, something which helped the domestic sales of Prius is the Japanese government policy to offer subsidies and tax breaks for purchasing eco friendly vehicles.

In this gloomy situation of Auto Industry, Toyota Prius is turning out to be a rare bright spot.  With Toyota Prius you can drive about 38 Km per liter.  In heavy traffic situation, hybrid cars like Toyota Prius rely completely on their electric motors and thus burn no gas.  As of now Toyota’s Prius, which works on both electricity and gasoline, continues to dominate Japanese auto sector.

toyota prius japan

According to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA), Japan’s biggest automaker – Toyota sold over 26,900 Prius hybrid cars this October, which is quiet a big leap considering its October sales last year which was just around 6,341 units.

After facing losses for three consecutive quarters, the biggest auto maker from Japan – Toyota – has finally hit the bull’s eye in the month of July and September by gaining profit of around 22 billion yen (US $240 million).  Toyota Motor Corp has also reduced its expected loss by 50% for this financial year. Increasing domestic demand of Prius has helped Toyota to post a surprise profit this quarter.

Meanwhile for the fourth consecutive month,  Honda’s Fit – a people carrier, occupied the second position, selling around 15,440 units in Japan. Compared to last year’s October sales Honda Fit has gained about 26.7 percent more sales. To boost its sales, Honda wants to come up with the hybrid version of the Fit next year. Even though the Fit is not a hybrid vehicle, it still eligible for all subsidies and tax breaks given by government as it is fuel-efficient vehicle.

This October third position was occupied by Vitz subcompact from Toyota whereas, the direct competitor of Toyota’s Prius – Honda Insight occupied ninth position.

Considering the environmental concern, and the initiative taken by the Japanese government, Japanese auto market is experiencing increase in the demand for environmentally friendly and fuel efficient cars.  These eco-friendly cars are going to dominate for few more years.

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