(Source: Green Car Congress, AP, Wall Street Journal & The Japan Times Online)

Toyota’s Prius was the top-seller in Japan in July, with 27,712 units sold—almost quadruple the 7,058 units sold in July 2008, up nearly 25 percent from June, according to data from the Japan Automotive Dealers Association (JADA).

Image Courtesy: Green Car Congress - Monthly Prius Sales in Japan Since Jan 2007

For a second straight month, Prius has bagged the top-seller title, underscoring robust demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.  Demand for gasoline-electric vehicles has surged in Japan, helped by tax breaks and subsidies under a government initiative to promote cleaner automobiles. Toyota has said customers placing orders now for the Prius will have to wait until at least April for delivery due to surging demand.

Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc. said Thursday that orders for the hybrid version of its luxury Lexus sedan have been robust, leading the Toyota unit to expand production of the model.

Orders for the HS250h Lexus hybrid launched July 14 have reached 8,600 units, far more than the monthly target of 500, Seiichi Sudo, president of the Toyota unit, said in Fukuoka.

“Orders are very brisk as customers endorse its environmental performance,” he said.

The company is making employees work 30 to 90 minutes of overtime a day to meet demand, Sudo said, warning, however, that delivery of many ordered cars could be delayed beyond the March 31 expiry for the government’s subsidy program.

Overall auto sales in Japan declined 4.2% to July to 289,927. Toyota sales decreased 3% to 135,535 according to JADA.  This decline in Japan’s auto sales for July was the smallest since the world’s third biggest auto market started shrinking last August.

This was the 12th straight month of decline, but it was much smaller than the 13.5% drop in June.

The results for the April-June quarter showed that Toyota Motor Corp. is getting some traction from aggressive cost-cutting and Japanese government incentives that have boosted sales of green cars like the Prius. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast a fiscal first quarter loss of 210 billion yen.

Booming sales of the Prius hybrid helped the world’s No. 1 automaker Toyota deliver a smaller-than-expected 77.82 billion yen ($819 million) quarterly loss and narrow its forecast of red ink for the full year.

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(Source: Green Car Congress & Wired)

Toyota’s third-gen Prius is already a huge hit in Japan (topping the sales numbers for May), and the automaker plans to lease a plug-in version to corporate and municipal customers by the end of the year.

Just 200 are slated for release in Japan under a joint program with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry aimed at promoting the adoption of plug-in hybrids and EVs. Although the new Prius – like all those that came before – uses a nickel metal hydride battery, the plug-in features a lithium-ion pack.

“Toyota Motor Corp. believes that, in response to the diversification of energy sources, plug-in hybrid vehicles are currently the most suitable environmentally considerate vehicles for widespread use,” the company said in a statement. “TMC therefore intends to encourage the marketing of plug-in hybrid vehicles while introducing a total of 500 vehicles globally—primarily to fleet customers—to further use and understanding of the vehicles.”

TMC will introduce approximately 150 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the United States, as well as more than 150 vehicles in Europe, including 100 in France. TMC is also considering introducing plug-in hybrid vehicles in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany.