Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s Prius hybrid passed Honda Motor Co.’s Civic and Accord to become the best- selling vehicle line this year in California as higher gasoline prices drove up demand for fuel-efficient cars.

Toyota, the world’s largest seller of gasoline-electric autos, sold 46,380 Prius models to Golden State drivers in the first nine months of the year, the California New Car Dealers Association said in its Auto Outlook report. That vaulted the Prius three levels above last year, when it ranked behind the Civic, Accord and Toyota’s own Camry.

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“Gas prices are up 80 cents per gallon in California over the national average,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, California. “That’s really driving up the appeal of hybrids, as well as plug-in vehicles in California.”

Drivers in the state bought 1.25 million new cars and trucks this year through September, according to the report. That would be 11 percent of the U.S. total of 10.9 million. Purchases of Prius models this year in California account for 25 percent of the 183,340 Prius liftbacks, plug-ins, v wagons and c subcompacts sold in the U.S.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/toyota-prius-dominates-california-as-state-s-no-1-model.html