An article in Japanese news paper, Nikkei, is reporting that Toyota’s expecting to receive 40,000 preorder requests for its new 2010 Prius hybrid in Japan alone. Compare that number to this one: 73,100 Prius hybrids were sold in all of 2008.

The competition, Honda, should be surprised it moved 18,000 Insight hybrids in Japan within the first month. They had originally expected to sell just 5,000.

The competition between the two automakers is getting so fierce that Toyota recently announced the 2010 Prius will be priced at around 2.05 million yen ($20,750), which is just about the same as the mid-level Insight.

[Reuters]