Honda’s new ‘lower cost’ Insight hybrid was the best-selling car in Japan last month, with a tally of 10,481 units, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. It was the first time a hybrid model has topped the monthly sales charts.
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Honda’s Fit (Jazz) was the industry’s best-selling car among for both calendar year 2008 and the fiscal year ended 31 March, 2009. It was also the industry’s best-selling car last March, for the fourth consecutive month, until displaced by its new hybrid sibling. It was the first time Honda models have been the top two best-selling cars in Japan.
Insight sales began only on 6 February and 4,906 units were sold that month. The March tally was 4,088 units and 10,481 cars found homes last month. The model is also now on sale in a number of export markets including the US and UK.
The Insight costs JPY1.89m in Japan, lower than Toyota’s outgoing Prius hybrid. Toyota is expected to reprice this model to match or better the Insight and price the redesigned version due out later this month lower than planned before the Honda’s price was announced a few months ago.
Speculation is rife that Toyota will limit the price of the new Prius to JPY2.05m compared with JPY2.33m for the current model, Kyodo News reported. Toyota will also sell the old and new Prius alongside each other in Japan, recent local media reports have said.
The ‘old’ Prius fell to 21st place as its April sales tumbled 64.2% year on year ahead of the third generation model’s release later this month. Toyota has sold the Prius line in Japan since 1997 and began exports – initially to the US – in 2000.
Kyodo said sales of eco-friendly cars are expected to increase thanks to new tax breaks and subsidies the government is introducing for the purchase of hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars.
Toyota’s Vitz (Yaris) was third best seller in Japan last month with 6,706 units, down 26.3%.
Toyota’s Corolla was fourth with sales of 6,341 units, down 40%, followed by the automaker’s Wish minivan (5,556 units, +77.3%) and Passo (5,545, up 8.9%).
