Toyota Motor Corp. all but danced on the grave of the Honda Accord hybrid Thursday, announcing the sale of its millionth hybrid and issuing a rosy forecast for its gas-sipping lineup in North America.

Honda Motor Co. said earlier this week it will no longer build its Accord hybrid. The midsize sedan missed the mark because it offered a mix of fuel economy and performance at a time when hybrid shoppers seem focused primarily on miles per gallon to inform their buying decisions.Prius sales tripled from a year ago to 24,009 vehicles according last month’s numbers.Stiff sales declines suffered by the Accord stand in stark contrast to Toyota’s flagship Prius, which accounts for more than half of all hybrid sales in the U.S., according to Edmunds.com data compiled at the end of May.

Honda (HMC) , Toyota’s chief rival in the hybrid game, still offers the No. 2 best-selling hybrid on the market. Its Civic compact sedan has garnered 16.5% of the market since the technology first came to the U.S. in the form of the Honda Insight back in 1999.

Prius, with an EPA estimated 46 combined mpg, hit the U.S. in 2000, three years after it was launched in Japan. Since then, more than 400,000 have rolled off dealers’ lots.

Other Toyota hybrids include the Highlander, the Camry and the Lexus RX 400h and GS 450h. The Lexus brand will also launch the 2008 LS 600h luxury sedan later this summer.

Of the 1 million sold to date, Toyota (TM) said more than half have come from the United States — a market long known for its seemingly unquenchable thirst for big SUVs and trucks.

The head of Toyota Motor Sales: Jim Lentz, said in the company’s press release: “The cost benefit of hybrids is becoming more apparent with climbing gas prices.” Indeed, the cost premium for a hybrid engine now pays for itself in about nine months, Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong explained. Average gas prices reached an all-time high of $3.23 for a gallon of regular in late May.

Toyota also said it expects to sell 250,000 hybrids in the U.S. this year en route to its goal of selling 1 million hybrids a year by early in the next decade.

source: Car News

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