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Electric cars are constantly increasing their popularity across the world, especially in Japan. Those willing to buy a Toyota, for example, are considering purchasing the Prius model. For many years the Japanese drivers were somewhat indifferent towards hybrid vehicles, but today they are all willing to buy Toyota Prius, Honda Insight or other models that are powered by gasoline and electricity. Hybrid vehicles continue to gain popularity partly because new cars are arriving in showrooms. The third generation of the Prius model from Toyota was launched in May and in June the car already became one of the best selling vehicles across Japan, pushing aside the Insight model from Honda, which still managed to register a record high number of hybrid cars sold each month - 10,000 cars, twice the amount forecasted by the company.

"Ordinarily, small cars don't have much status, but people don't care about changing from a bigger vehicle to a smaller vehicle if it's a Prius these days. Suddenly, everyone wants the car as soon as possible," said Toshiyuki Yokoyama, the general manager at Kanagawa Toyota Motor Sales that can boast 50 dealerships in and around Yokohama. Due to an increasing number of cheaper fuel-saving vehicles, consumers in the land of the rising sun are choosing hybrid cars, just like in Europe. As a result of government subsidies and a lot of information in the media over the last year, the sales of hybrid models that had a somewhat reasonable price registered a considerable increase. The sales boosted in 2008 also due to fad-conscious consumers.

It is however unclear whether the hybrid cars trend is going to be a long-lasting one or will soon fade away. It might be that the government subsidies and high gas prices could soon decrease the number of sales. Over the last year and the beginning of 2009, sales of Japanese hybrid vehicles in the United States slowed down due to the fact that Japanese carmakers were unable to keep up with the demand for eco-friendly cars. Toyota decided to postpone the work on one of its factories located in Mississippi, where Prius was made.

It is well known that the Japanese are always out for some trendy stuff, from clothes to video games, which is the reason why sales may register a sudden boost and then unexpectedly show a considerable drop. But according to car manufacturers, the trend will remain stable and may even strengthen even if the government subsidies phase out. Despite the fact that the prices for gas peaked in 2008, they still remain high today, and with the weakening of the Japanese economy as a result of global economic crisis consumers are considering spending much less on gasoline. For many years the Japanese tried to be as efficient as possible due to lack of natural resources. They reduced the use of air-conditioners and promoted washing machines that do not require water. Still price is the most important factor for a Japanese consumer. This is the reason why both Toyota and Honda use less costly technology for making their hybrid vehicles, the average price of which is about $30,000, almost the price of a luxury car in the country.

Besides Toyota and Honda other Japanese carmakers like Nissan and Mitsubishi decided to boost the production of electric vehicles. However, the lifespan of electric vehicles on the market could make it difficult for Japanese car manufacturers to persuade consumer to purchase eco-friendly vehicles.