Toyota to Increase Imports of Prius

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest seller of gasoline-electric automobiles, said Thursday that it would double the number of Prius hybrid cars for sale in the U.S. next year to reduce the waiting period for customers.

About 100,000 of the fuel-efficient, low-emission cars will be shipped to the U.S. in 2005, the company said. That’s more than half of total production of the Prius, which is built in Japan.

“We’re not sure how quickly the cars will come in, since some production issues have to be worked out,” said John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. unit, which is headquartered in Torrance.

Toyota said in August that it would expand monthly production of the Prius, given that there was a six-month waiting list for U.S. buyers.

U.S. sales of the cars almost tripled through August from a year earlier to 31,406. Demand for the Prius rose as U.S. gasoline prices increased.

Toyota, the first to sell hybrids when it introduced the Prius in Japan in 1997, has said it expects global sales of the model to reach 130,000 this year.

The Prius’ relative scarcity in the U.S. has led some owners to resell their vehicles for a profit. The asking price for a new Prius on EBay Inc.’s Internet auction site Thursday was $29,647, about $3,000 over the model’s list price.