Prius Brand Becomes World’s Third-Best Seller

Global demand for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius line of hybrid vehicles grew to 247,200 units in the first quarter of 2012, trailing only the Toyota Corolla (300,800 units) and Ford Focus (277,300 units), Bloomberg News reports.

The sales surge was driven by Toyota's expansion of the Prius brand to four hybrids from one, coupled with sales rebates and high gasoline prices worldwide. The Prius line includes the original five-door hatch plus a plug-in variant, a wagon and a small sedan.

Expanding demand for Prius vehicles in the January-March period helped Toyota including its Daihatsu and Hino brands to surpass General Motors Co. to regain its position as the world's highest-volume carmaker. Bloomberg notes the Japanese company reported first-quarter sales of 2.49 million vehicles compared with 2.28 million for GM and 2.16 million units for Volkswagen.

Prius sales in the American market climbed 42% in the first quarter of 2012 and 56% in April to 86,000 units. Global demand surged 125% in the period. Toyota says it has sold 4 million hybrids under its Prius, Lexus and Toyota brands since 1997, including 1.5 million units in the U.S.