Toyota’s Prius hybrid remained the best-selling car in Japan for a 10th straight month last month despite the company’s massive safety recalls worldwide, industry data showed yesterday.
The world’s biggest carmaker sold 27,008 Prius hatchback vehicles at home last month, up almost 500 percent from the same month last year, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.
The success of the gasoline-electric hybrid has been pushed by a government incentive campaign in Japan aimed at helping the auto sector and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Prius stayed in pole position at home — the only hybrid in the top 10 — despite a recall last month to fix its brakes.
The company said it would pull roughly 223,000 Prius and other hybrids in Japan and about 147,500 in the US because of a problem with the anti-lock braking system, as part of a wider global recall.
However, Toshiki Miyake, an official at the industry body, said the enduring high sales of the Prius likely reflected orders placed by consumers long before Toyota announced its recalls.
“The effects of the recall problem, if any, might show up in future sales,” he said.
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