REPORT: Toyota claims 40,000 pre-orders for new Prius

The well-publicized battle for hybrid sales supremacy between Honda and Toyota has taken yet another intriguing turn. According to the Nikkei newspaper in Japan, Toyota is expecting to take 40,000 preorders in Japan for its new 2010 Prius hybrid ahead of its official debut in May. For the sake of comparison, the Japanese automaker sold a total of 73,100 Prius hybrids in all of 2008.