Toyota dealers in Japan received 80,000 orders for the latest version of the carmaker’s Prius petrol-electric hybrid ahead of its official launch on Monday, a much higher volume than expected as the company had cut prices to fend off a challenge from its emerging green-car rival Honda.

Incoming Toyota chief Akio Toyoda at the launch in Tokyo of the third-generation Prius

The enthusiastic response to the third-generation Prius, which Toyota will begin selling outside Japan in a few weeks, appeared likely to propel it to the top of the domestic sales rankings – a feat achieved for the first time by a hybrid last month, when Honda’s revived Insight became Japan’s best-selling full-size car.