Toyota sold 24,009 Prius' in May of 2006. That's an annual rate of over 280k units. However, total sales so far this year (through May) is 76,747, which would be ~185K per year.

All of that is still quite a bit lower than Impala, but its getting there. In fact, the only US car that outsold Prius in May was the Impala. YTD, the Cobalt still has a slight lead, but Prius beat it soundly in May. Same thing for the Ford Focus.

In 2006, Toyota sold over 300k Prius worldwide.

Sources:
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...01/050193.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...01/050193.html
http://www.egmcartech.com/2007/06/07...lion-in-sales/

Bob

PS...I'm not a Prius lover or treehugger.

 

Thanks for pulling the numbers, Bob.

 

While it did sell better than I thought it is in NO way a leading seller in the US.

 

No - but its pretty damn close (especially this past May).

 

The Prius made the list of 10 least reliable used cars to purchase. It was vehicle #4.

The reasoning? As the car approaches 100,000 miles according to the report "all sorts of problems start to arise."

 

Who wrote the article? This is a new one to me.

 

Doesn't matter whatsoever.

People are convinced that Toyota can do no wrong, and they flock to the showroom in droves to buy them - REGARDLESS of what some "study" might say. Their conscience is clear... they are being "green", maximizing their value, saving gas, and they are even helping America by making this purchase because they are reducing our dependence on foreign oil! (How's THAT for an irony!?!? Foreign cars are OK, but foreign oil is totally taboo!!! )

This is the perception issue that continues to plague the domestic brands, and it seems that there is little shift taking place in buyer's perception - despite all the good reviews and reports favoring domestics for the last 3-5 years.

What peeves me even more is this - a buyer will throw their Chevy or Ford to the dogs if it burps after 100k miles of abuse and claim that US quality is crap, but they will tolerate problems in their Honda or Toyota and claim that it's a soundly designed car that is just showing "signs of wear"... after all, it's been 100,000 miles! I hear and see it all the time.... it burns my **** like a China Syndrome.

 

The Prius battery pack has warranty of 8 years or 100,000 miles, and costs $4,000 according to Toyota's own PR. Not including labor. Not including other related parts such as motors, and a whole lot of other complex items that go into a Prius that don't exist in conventional, easy to maintain, cheap to fix vehicles. By the way, the rest of the Prius' powertrain (outside of the battery pack) has a warranty of 6 years or 60,000 miles.

There is no current foundation to the rumor that everything goes to pot at 100,000 miles, BUT.... things WILL start to get alot more expensive for the Prius owner after 60,000 miles should drivetrain parts begin to fail (let alone that $4000 battery pack).

That part's no rumor.

Toyota's service department already has a reputation of being more than a little pricey when it comes to parts and labor next to domestics, even on their high volume vehicles like the Camry. Throw in a vehicle that has 2 powerplants & a complex and very sophisticated driveline system, and the fact that it's production numbers are realitively low, and most of it's buyers are relatively well off, and you can see where the rumor might be based on.