“We will end the decade with Prius being the number one nameplate in the industry,” Toyota’s U.S. VP of Sales, Bob Carter, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. Toyota aims to do this without losing sales on its Camry model, which is currently the best selling car on the US market. The Camry “will be a close second, and that's not because there will be a drop in Camry sales,” he said.
In order to reach its sales targets, Toyota will expand the Prius name to cover a whole line of vehicles, which will be previewed at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on January 10th. The most expected is a larger Prius with more room inside, that will be similar to an MPV. Toyota also plans to bring a plug-in version of the Prius to the market this year.
With sales of 125,289 Prius models through November on the U.S. market, the carmaker is also the world's largest maker of gasoline-electric cars. But the Prius is still a long way from matching the Camry at 296,581 units sold in the same period. The hybrid is currently the number one seller in Japan for the past 19 consecutive months with 315,000 units shifted.
autoevolution will be attending the 2011 NAIAS, so stay tuned for some real up close and personal shots of the vehicles, as well as for first-hand details of the motorized contraptions presented at the event.
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