With gas at almost $4.00 a gallon across the US, May should have been a month of record-breaking Prius sales. Not so, thanks to Mother Nature. Toyota Prius sales were down 47.4% compared to May 2010 due entirely to a constricted supply line following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The Prius sold a meager 6,924 units compared to 14,248 last May.

I posed the question to Toyota's Prius Team back in May during an interview for What Drives Us: "When will the Prius be Toyota's best selling car?" They didn't have a definite answer then, but apparently Bob Carter, Toyota's group VP for US Sales thinks the Prius nameplate (family) will be the number one Toyota seller by 2020, with the Camry dropping to a close 2nd place.

This week Danny, Russell, Linda and Tony take on a number of issues including, some bad comparisons between the Leaf and the Volt (which are not the same), a possible Buick hybrid, Honda recalling half a million bad ignition switches and hybrid car sales in July (with lots of comparisons to previous year's sales). Just a heads-up that the B-Roll this week is slightly colorful, so fast forward a couple of minutes if you want to skip it.

Hosts: Russell Frost and Danny Cooper

Panelists: Linda Schaefer, Tony Schaefer

Episode #: 28

Time: 1:12:03

Prius sales were up 50% in April 2010 compared to April 2009. usbseawolf2000 put that number in perspective on the PriusChat forums:

12,555 Priuses were sold. 1,880 Insights were sold. That's 6.7: 1 ratio.

Prius outsold Fit, S2000, Insight, Element and Ridgeline combined!

Prius outsold Odyssey.

Prius outsold the entire Acura brand!

Just when we thought the media controlled the minds and thoughts of the auto-buying public, the American public has fought back by embracing financial incentives and boosting Prius sales by 27% in March. With incentives in place like $229 lease rates and other customer loyalty bonuses, it looks like John Q. Consumer made a decision on his next car based on his wallet and not what his TV news was telling him.

Overall, Toyota sales were up an astounding 40% last month compared to March 2009. Also, Prius year-to-date sales are up 17% in 2010 compared to 2009.

Expect to see Toyota Prius sales plummet after the ABS brake recall in February? Fat chance. Prius sales were up 10% in February 2010 compared to February 2009. Not as great of a % jump over the previous year, but not a huge drop when compared to January's 13% sales increase. About 80% of the hybrids Toyota sold in February were Prius hybrids.

For those of you hoping to jump into a Prius while no one is buying them, well, better keep waiting. Press release below:

Toyota Vice President Bob Carter told me back in March that Toyota hoped to sell 100,000 2010 Prius hybrids in 2009. Given the state of the economy, 100,000 units sold by the end of the year was a goal based more on hopes than reality. But with 139,682 total Prius sales in 2009, it looks like Toyota may have squeaked out 100,000 3G Prius sales, or at least they got very close.

November was another good month for Prius sales in the US, showing a 20.7% increase over November 2008 sales. The Prius continues to be the best-selling hybrid in the United States, with few available on lots throughout the country and a very large waiting list in Japan.

The other Toyota/Lexus hybrids continued to post good sales numbers, with the RX hybrid accounting for about 15% of total RX sales, and the all-new HS hybrid selling over 1,400 units.

TMS Hybrids

Not only were Prius sales up double-digits in October over last year, but the solid sales also pushed the Prius into the "Top-Selling Vehicles in the US" list. The Prius had sales of 13,496 in October, an increase of 10.3% over last October.

Was your Prius one of the 13,000+ sold in October?

Toyota press release:

GENERATION Y OPEN TO NEW BRANDS, NEW TECHNOLOGY AND HYBRIDS
Survey Shows Generation Y Frequently Multitasking While Driving