Toyota Prius tops October sales in Japan, 18 months in a row

That is excellent news. In contrast, only 11,731 Prius in the USA:

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/document/October_PR_Sales_Chart.pdf

Given the relative population sizes, our good friends in Japan are buying Prius at nearly 3-4 times the rate per person as the USA.

An optimist, I hope suppressed USA Prius sales are just the announcement of so many other EVs and hybrids. We've seen this with the ZVW30 coming out and cannibalizing NHW20 sales. If so, after the new competition comes out, sales should rebound. The real question is whether the new hybrids and EVs will increase the percentage of all vehicles from just under 3% to something more substantial.

For the year, the good Toyota sales areas are SUVs,+34%, and light trucks, +17%. Passenger cars are -16% although the Prius is less bad in this group at -9.9%.

Bob Wilson