Japanese, South Korean Hybrids, EVs Near Sales Record

TOKYO – Japanese and South Korean automakers are on track to sell record numbers of hybrid and electric vehicles in 2013.

Between January and September, they sold nearly 1.2 million units worldwide, up 2% from year-ago and setting a pace to reach 1.6 million.

Toyota again was the industry leader with sales totaling 969,530 units. Honda and Nissan followed with 116,087 and 34,439, respectively.

South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia reported sales of 57,394 units and are on course to exceed 75,000 for the full year, up more than 20%.

The five best-selling models were Toyotas, led by the Prius c (sold in Japan as the Aqua) with 252,110 deliveries. Close behind was the Prius (249,390), followed by the Prius v, sold in Japan as the Prius Alpha (120,770), Camry Hybrid (66,080) and Crown Hybrid (42,660).

Honda’s best-selling hybrid was the Fit at 40,202 units.

Nissan sold 32,127 Leaf all-electric cars, making the model the segment’s top seller. EVs accounted for 3% of the Japan-Korea sales total.

Plug-in hybrids, led by the plug-in Prius, accounted for 2% of sales.

Not included in the total were the Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, launched in the U.S. in October, and Toyota’s Aqua G Sports and Mazda’s Mazda 3 hybrids, scheduled for late-November launch in Japan.