This year hasn’t been the best for Toyota’s sales. Its top performer, the RAV4, has suffered production setbacks that decimated its sales for the year. It’s not the only iconic Toyota model to suffer this year, either. The Prius is also struggling. The model more synonymous with hybrid tech and efficiency than basically any other automobile is languishing this year. Yet, strangely, it’s just the standard hybrid falling behind. The Prius Plug-In is having a far better year.
The Plug-In Is Doing All Right, But Not Well Enough To Make Up For The Regular Prius
July was a bad month for the complete Prius line on top of a bad year. Toyota sold 3,139 Prius cars through the month, down 23.8% compared to July 2025, when Toyota sold 4,118 examples. As such, the deficit for the year continues to grow. Total sales this year have reached 22,657 cars, a drop of 40.3% from last year’s total of 37,963.
2026 Toyota Prius Plug-In Nightshade front 3/4 angle in blackToyota
Unlike many automakers, Toyota does actually break out sales for its hybrid variants, and it’s there that we see that the two versions of the Prius are performing quite differently. The Plug-In is actually having a solid 2026, and July was one of its better months. Sales for July were up 26.1% compared to July last year, going from 1,495 to 1,885. Total sales are up by 5.5% from 9,119 to 9,618. The problem is that the Plug-In doesn’t make up the majority of Prius sales, or at least, it doesn’t for now.
The regular Prius has been the backbone of the line, and sales last year totaled 28,844 cars through July. This year’s total is just 13,039, a drop of 54.8%. The month’s sales had a similar drop of 52.2% from 2,623 to 1,254. Even if Plug-In sales had doubled for this year, it wouldn’t make up for the losses on the standard car’s side.
2027 Toyota Prius from the rear three-quarter angleToyota
Toyota’s Hybrids And EVs Are Doing Well On The Whole
In addition to showing sales numbers for individual hybrid and EV variants, Toyota has tabulated the sales of just its electrified models. Even with a drought of RAV4s and the Prius struggling, overall Toyota electrified sales are great. For just the Toyota brand, electrified sales are up by 13.1% for the year, significantly better than the whole brand’s increase of just 1.2%. It’s a similar story with Lexus. The luxury brand’s electrified cars are up by 5.5% for the year, versus a drop of 4.9% for the brand overall.
Not every Toyota hybrid is doing great, though. There are a couple of models with declining sales that aren’t a huge surprise, such as the expensive and odd Crown and Crown Signia. Others are rather unexpected, such as the Land Cruiser, Corolla Hybrid, Corolla Cross Hybrid, and Tundra Hybrid. However, of electrified Toyota branded cars that are still in production, nothing saw as large of a sales drop by percentage as the regular Prius.
2027 Toyota Prius from the frontToyota
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
The flagging sales of the Prius suggest that it’s in need of some sprucing up to bring in customers. Toyota did slightly update the car for the 2027 model year, but it did the bare minimum of adding a new standard feature and some colors. It also slightly increased the price. What would likely serve the Prius better would be more substantial changes to styling and performance, maybe even a unique new trim level. It could also work on increasing Plug-In sales even more to offset some of the standard car’s losses. Regardless, Toyota needs to think about making drastic changes to its efficiency mascot to keep it selling.
