Toyota Yaris HSD Concept - Preview of the upcoming Yaris Hybrid (teaser pic)

[Buddy Fan]

I read the same thing about the Fit outselling the Prius, but that is only for January 2011. Japan had some sort of financial incentive that made the Prius - and hybrids in general - more attractive to purchase and that is why it had been top seller for almost two years. With the Fit now offering a hybrid, it has since topped the Prius in sales.

Originally Posted by Kal-El

Whatever article you read was way off. The Prius is the Ford F-150 of Japan. It sold almost TWICE what the Honda Fit sold, the #2 car. That's astounding.

Also to note is Toyota's overall domination in Japan. They're pretty much outselling everyone else combined.

2010 total sales in Japan...

1. Toyota Prius … 315,669 … +51.1
2. Honda Fit … 185,439 … +17.7
3. Toyota Vitz … 122,248 … +3.9
4. Toyota Corolla … 111,265 … +23.4
5. Honda Freed … 95,123 … +19.6
6. Toyota Passo … 89,373 … -9.6
7. Honda Stepwagon … 80,934 … +88.1
8. Nissan Serena … 75,040 … -4.8
9. Toyota Voxy … 72,163 … +1.0
10. Nissan Note … 66,347 … +0.9
11. Mazda Demio … 65,949 … +18.6
12. Toyota Vellfire … 61,015 … +22.9
13. Toyota Wish … 59,447 … -1.5
14. Toyota Noah … 56,955 … +7.6
15. Nissan Cube … 54,406 … -9.0
16. Toyota Estima … 50,053 … -4.5
17. Nissan March … 49,193 … +56.5
18. Nissan Tiida … 46,825 … -18.7
19. Toyota Ractis … 46,540 … +3.0
20. Suzuki Swift … 44,589 … -3.4

Toyota does indeed intend to make a hybrid varient of almost their entire lineup. This includes Yaris as well as at least 3 Prius models (Prius V & C are coming). It may eat some regular Prius sales but I don't think by much. He car will look very different, be priced differently, and range in size. Their distinctions will sell themselves.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by Buddy Fan

I read the same thing about the Fit outselling the Prius, but that is only for January 2011. Japan had some sort of financial incentive that made the Prius - and hybrids in general - more attractive to purchase and that is why it had been top seller for almost two years. With the Fit now offering a hybrid, it has since topped the Prius in sales.

For January 2011, I stand corrected. However, it's all Fit models combined that passed the Prius, not Fit hybrids alone. Hybrids made up half of the sales. Yup, Japan ended their hybrid incentives.

I wish Honda brought over the Fit hybrid to North America. Problem for Honda is that they build the Insight which is about the same price. The Insight is a total fail. They should've simply marketed the Civic hybrid & Fit hybrid.