The Toyota Prius was Japan’s best-selling car in May for the 12th month in a row according to the country’s industry association.
Prius sales jumped 220% year on year to 20,789 vehicles and strong sales of hybrids have highlighted the growing popularity of environmentally friendly vehicles in the country with the new Aqua (Prius C outside Japan) hybrid coming in second place for the second straight month.
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Toyota sold 20,091 Aquas after sales started in December.
Honda’s N Box minivehicle was third in the May sales chart with 19,354 units. Daihatsu’s Mira minivehicle was fourth followed by Honda’s Fit [Jazz].
Sales of imported cars rose 8.2% to 20,814 vehicles in May, up for the first time in two months, according to preliminary data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association.
Top sellers were models covered by the government’s incentive programme to support purchases of environment friendly vehicles.
Volkswagen led with a market share of almost 21% followed by BMW at 14% and Mercedes-Benz at 12%. Nissan, which imports its March [Micra] compact from Thailand, was fourth at 9%.
