Prius tops Japanese new car sales

Japan's Automobile Dealers Association reports that despite worldwide recalls of several models, including its Prius, the iconic hybrid shifted 35,546 units in March.

Indeed, sales quadrupled year on year, to more than 277,000, and it now boasts a six-month waiting list.

"The recall woes did not appear to dent demand for the Prius. Despite the recall trouble, the automaker cannot keep up with surging demand for the Prius," Toshiki Miyake, a spokesman for the association, told Japanese media.

In April 2009, Honda's Insight became the first hybrid to top Japanese sales charts. But Toyota's third-gen Prius, released just a couple of months later, quickly overtook it and has remained on top since. Calendar year 2009 in Japan saw Prius sales more than double those of the Insight -- 208,876 to 93,283. The Insight finished the year in fifth place overall in Japanese sales.

Honda's non-hybrid FIT has since risen to second place beneath the Prius in March, selling just over 23,076 units.

Toyota's Miyake acknowledged the role government subsidies and tax concessions for such cars had played in the Prius's success. Just as hybrid sales benefited from last year's cash-for-clunkers program in the US, so they have benefited from the program in Japan -- Enough to see the government extending the program by six months to September.

Nevertheless, Toyota would no doubt be taking heart in the light of recent well publicised braking problems in the Prius and potentially lethal acceleration problems in other models giving rise to an 8 million-strong global vehicle recall -- 6 million just in its biggest market, the US.

Regardless of such problems, the Prius remained the best-selling hybrid vehicle in the US in March as well.

In a bid to get the Insight back on a competitive footing against the Prius in that market, Honda has been offering it on a hard-to-resist sub US$200-a-month lease deal.

Analyst Edmunds reports that despite a substantial price advantage of several thousand dollars, the Insight has failed to snatch much consumer interest from the Prius. In January -- before Toyota's recall woes began -- the Prius notched up 8484 sales against the Honda's 1307.

Edmunds attributes the Insight's failure to shortfalls in rear seat space and fuel economy -- the Insight achieves a combined cycle of 5.7L/100km against the Prius's 4.7L/110km.

Hybrids make up about 10 percent of new vehicle sales in Japan and, according to research organisation Green Car Congress, about 2.8 percent in the US.

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