Toyota Prius Prime finished ahead of Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S as the bestselling plug-in hybrid in sales on the January-June 2017 period
Toyota could be shying away a bit from the new fully electrified cars but the Prius Prime is just doing the right thing for the brand as it has officially become the bestselling plug-in hybrid in the world this year, at least so far. Between the period of January and June 2017, the Prius Prime managed to register a total of 26,867 units globally ahead of Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S.
At second, the Nissan Leaf found itself narrowly losing the top position at 26,591 units with just a deficit of 276. Behind the Leaf was the premium Model S sedan from Tesla with deliveries of 25,430. As much as the good showing of electric vehicles, the plug-in hybrids have been doing appreciable amounts of sale this year.
The next generation Nissan Leaf, set to make global debut on September 6, is predicted to overtake the Prius Prime by a comfortable margin when it goes on sale. It has contemporary styling over the existing Leaf and has driving range close to 600 km to back it up. It is touted to be aerodynamically stable with zero lift aiding performance and will have e-pedal and semi-autonomous driving technology.
As the groundbreaking Tesla Model 3’s deliveries already begun and the popularity of Chevrolet Bolt is only picking up the momentum, the EV war in the United States is getting revved up to the next stage. From the reports found on the internet, Tesla continues to lead the charts as the most-sold plug-in producer with a total of 47,000 units being delivered.
In the global scale, Tesla is followed by BMW with 41,715 units courtesy of the i division. With Nissan at fifth with 29,055 and Toyota in the next place at 26,920, Chinese brand BYD recorded 34,802 and BAIC 30,151 units at third and fourth places respectively in the sales chart for January-June 2017.