In just over a decade, the Toyota Prius has gone from a niche market car to one of the best-selling cars on the planet.
High demand in the United States, and incentives for domestically built cars in Japan, have helped propel the Prius to become the world’s third-best selling car in the first quarter of 2012. Toyota has also expanded the Prius range, including the smaller, sportier Model C, which also helped the line move into the third position. Toyota sold  247,230 of the cars around the world, and 86,027 in the U.S. alone.
In case you were wondering, in the number one spot was Toyota Corolla, and the number two position was taken up by the Ford Focus (which now includes an all-electric model). Unsurprisingly, in this age of higher fuel prices and greater environmental concern, the other two positions of the top five best selling cars were taken up by smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Many new car buyers are obviously making fuel-efficiency a top priority.
Given this result for the Prius, there is no reason to think that other up–and–coming hybrid and all–electric models couldn’t become top sellers around the world in coming years. There’s certainly not going to be a shortage of makes and models to choose from soon.
Are you by any chance one of the millions of people who have bought a Prius over the past decade?
Image CC licensed by Toyota Motor Europe: Toyota Prius 2012
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