Toyota's Prius maintains No 1 position for the 2nd month in Japan

Toyota's electric hybrid, Prius continued to maintain the top slot for the second straight month as Japan's best-selling car in July, indicating the increasing demand for green cars, mainly due to government incentives given for the auto industry.

Toyota's July sales were up about 24 per cent to 27,712 Prius units from June's 22,292 units, industry data showed on Thursday.

The surging demand for Pirus has resulted in Toyota saying that new customers booking the car will get delivery only in April, 2010. The company has also started overtime for its employees to meet the growing demand for Prius.

Overall the demand for green cars has risen in Japan mainly on tax breaks and subsidies provided by the government to promote cleaner automobiles.

Toyota's Prius continued to hold overall No.1 position in all segments including imported cars and mini-vehicles with engines of up to 660 cc, according to data from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and Japan Mini Vehicles Association.. (See: Toyota Prius continues to be Japan's top selling car in June)

Honda's Fit continued to hold the second place in July with sales of 17,003 units, while the Honda's Insight held the 10th position with sales of 10,210 units, up 16.3 per cent from June.

Suzuki Motor Corp's WagonR which had remained No.1 among all segments since January 2008 till May 2009 came second with sales of 18,140 units in July.

According to analyst, the Prius is expected to maintain its No. 1 position from August, as Prius already has a order book of more than 250,000 units.