Scoot over Honda, there’s a new Sheriff in town and the Toyota Prius is it. While the Honda Accord and Honda Civic have gotten pretty used to taking turns as the number one vehicle sold in California, the Prius is now happily stepping in to take that crown. In fact, there have been so many Toyota Prius models driving around in the Golden State that it’s earned the nickname as “State Bird of California”. This includes a combination of all four of the Toyota Prius models.
Totaling up all the sales of the Toyota Prius models including the Liftback, C, V and Plug-In, there were 46,380 of the Toyota’s sold in California in the first three quarters of this year. That takes the Prius from fourth place from 2011 up to first place for this year for this state. It’s assumed that the long time ridiculous gas prices, which are now about $5 a gallon are one of the reasons people are opting for fuel economy, and that’s one thing the Prius offers.
“Gas prices are up 80 cents per gallon in California over the national average,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, California. “That’s really driving up the appeal of hybrids, as well as plug-in vehicles in California.”
The Toyota Prius is not only first in sales for California. It has been the bestselling vehicle in Japan for years now, with the Honda Fit trying hard to take over that spot. In regard to sales worldwide, Prius comes in as the third bestselling model so far this year. The Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus are the happy recipients of first and second place.
With only a few more months left for car sales for 2012, it looks as if the Toyota Prius family of cars is going to be the clear first place winner in sales for the state of California. Of course, that can change in this last quarter, but projections seem to point Prius as the winning car for the Golden State.
Source Bloomberg