Toyota Prius Prime Plug-In Outsells Honda Clarity PHEV To Capture Sales Crown

There's been a back and forth battle in the U.S, in regards to the top-selling plug-in hybrid in a single month and now the Toyota Prius Prime has jumped ahead to recapture the top spot.

By: Eric Loveday

Apr 5, 2019 at 9:44am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Prius Prime crowned plug-in hybrid champ the in U.S. last month by a wide margin.

Believe it or not, the Honda Clarity PHEV that had topped the plug-in hybrid sales chart for three months in a row has now been dethroned.

For three consecutive months, we estimated that the Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid outsold the Toyota Prius Prime in the U.S. However, the tide changed in March as the Prius Prime logged an impressive 1,820 sales (*estimated).

Looking Back

By logging a confirmed sales total of 2,770 units in December 2018, the Clarity PHEV outsold all other plug-in hybrids offered in the U.S. for the first time ever. Then, it again topped the PHEV sales chart in January by edging out the Toyota Prius Prime. Clarity PHEV sales for January checked in at 1,192 units, to the Prime’s reported 1,123. But in February, the race tightened up considerably with just 8 sales separating the two models. Clarity PHEV sales came in officially at 1,213 to Prius Prime estimated sales of 1,205 in February.

Along Comes March

With the close of March came a new top-selling plug-in hybrid. The Toyota Prius Prime regained the #1 spot by selling 1,820 units (*estimated) compared to the Honda Clarity PHEV's 1,311 sales. The Clarity has remained rock steady in its sales figures (see chart below), while the Prius Prime seems to encounter some swings.

What do you think?

View

Comments

In 2018, the Prius Prime was more often than not the top-selling PHEV month after month. However, the Clarity’s rise to the top came shortly after Chevrolet announced the death of the Volt. With Volt sales now dwindling, the Clarity PHEV’s only real challenger is the Toyota Prius Prime and in March it was the Prime that took home the top spot.