Honda Accord outshines Toyota Prius to become the bestselling car in California

The arch rivalry between the two Japanese car majors, namely Honda and Toyota is very well-known. While Toyota continues to rule the world’s auto space with its increasingly reliable and safe cars, luxury auto maker Honda is a constant threat to some of the leading Toyota cars with its very stylish and premium cars. In the recent times, the Toyota Prius which is the pioneer hybrid global car has been getting tough competition by the very competent and more stylish Honda Accord Hybrid. However, the leading bestselling car in California, the Prius has now been overthrown by the gasoline-only Honda Accord.

The Honda Accord has overtaken the ruling Toyota Prius hybrid in California in the first quarter of the current year. While this might show that Toyota needs to perk up the looks and overall appeal of the Prius, it might also be a reason of concern for the environment lovers, as a greener hybrid car has been beaten by a gasoline only car that too in a place like California, which is considered to be heaven for the green cars and is the first destination for all the upcoming Fuel Cell cars.

However, it is too early to conclude that the Toyota Prius is not the top selling car in California for the year 2014, as the larger part of the year is still left. The Prius had been the top selling car in the state of California for 2 consecutive years and could still be the top car at the end of 2014.

Honda Motor sold 15,611 Accord units in the first quarter of this year while Toyota sold 15,318 Prius hybrid units. Another Honda car, Civic grabbed the third place with 14,627 sales, while the Toyota Camry came in the fourth position with the sale of 14,389 units. The Toyota Corolla sedan got the fifth place with total sales of 13,350 units in the first quarter. Thus, all the top five cars in California is either a Honda or a Toyota.

None of the other vehicle brand could sell over 10,000 units in the California car market during the first three months of 2014. The other major selling brands in California are the Chrysler Group, Fiat, Lincoln and Lexus, while Volvo and Volkswagen faced big sales decline.

The Japanese car brands are the major volume drawers in California and it continues to be so. The Japanese cars are most preferred California due to their superior quality and reliability factors and the Japanese car majors currently occupy the lion’s share of 49.2 percent shares in the state’s new car market.

The fight between Honda and Toyota is expected to stiffen going forward in the car market of California, while it remains to be seen whether the Prius will be able to remain the top seller for this year as well making it a hat-trick win in California. On the other hand, Honda’s alluring style factor is surely showing its effects.