Toyota Prius has now become the third bestselling car in the world with massive sales every month. Though hybrid cars are not that popular yet amongst the customers, but with Prius getting such good response, it sure is catching momentum. Toyota sold a whopping 247,230 units of Toyota Prius hybrids outpacing other popular cars like Ford Fiesta, Chevrolet Cruze, Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf. However, topping the charts is Toyota’s premium sedan, 2012 Toyota Corolla with a staggering 300,800 units. The second slot has been captured by 2012 Ford Focus with 30,000 units more than Prius.

Prius’ popularity is a good sign for 100% electric vehicles like Nissan Leaf and Volt as the sales number of these vehicles (first year sales) is much better than Prius’ sales when it was introduced in the auto market. This implies that the fate of electric vehicles in auto market is bright in the coming years. Some of the reasons behind the success of Prius are the hike in fuel prices, introduction of new models of Prius, raising concern regarding global warming and above all Prius is an excellent car. These factors lead to making Tpyota Prius the third bestselling car in the world as per the sales report in the first quarter of 2012.

Toyota has added three new car models to the line of Prius, however just a year ago only one model was available. The three new models available in the line of Prius include – 2012 Toyota Prius C subcompact hatch, 2012 Toyota Prius V mid size wagon and the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid. With the hike in fuel prices people are slowly skewing toward the electric models, though in India the future of electric models is still in haze due to the lack of infrastructure, car makers are not willing to invest in this segment. Let us just hope that government comes up with something viable to boost sales and growth of electric cars in India.