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  • Honda sells its millionth hybrid, sits in Toyota's rear-view mirror for now

    by 
    Jon Fingas
    Jon Fingas
    10.16.2012

    Honda's hybrid cars just haven't achieved the same cachet as Toyota's without a poster child like the Prius to drive demand. Nonetheless, the automaker has something to crow about with word that it has sold over a million hybrids worldwide as of the end of September. The milestone comes almost 13 years after the first Japan-bound Insight changed hands in November 1999, and after a significant expansion that includes more specialized cars like the CR-Z coupe you see here. Americans represent almost a third of the total at 318,000 vehicles that are split mostly between the Insight and the Civic Hybrid. Hitting seven digits gives Honda some eco-friendly credibility in a crowded field, although the firm might not want to brag too loudly: Toyota has sold four times as many to date and expects to sell one million hybrids just in 2012.