Toyota Prius v to Test Push to Make Prius Line Top-Seller

Toyota Motor Corp.’s goal of turning the Prius, the world’s best-selling hybrid car, into its top-selling U.S. model with a line of cars bearing the name gets its first test with a wagon version arriving late this year.

The 2012 Prius v, a gasoline-electric model with 53 percent more cargo space than the current “liftback” model, may account for as much as 20 percent of overall Prius sales, Bob Carter, group vice president for Toyota’s U.S. sales, said in an interview last week. The wagon is rated by the U.S. as getting 44 miles per gallon in the city and 42 mpg in combined city and highway driving, he said.