(January 4, 2011) LOS ANGELES — Toyota predicts its Prius hybrid and related models bearing the same name to become its top-selling U.S. vehicle line by the end of the decade, Bloomberg News reports.

“We will end the decade with Prius being the No. 1 nameplate in the industry,” Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president for U.S. sales, said in a call with analysts on Monday.

The Camry, Toyota's top-selling U.S. model, “will be a close second, and that's not because there will be a drop in Camry sales,” he said, according to notes from the call confirmed by the automaker.

Toyota is already the world's largest maker of gasoline-electric cars.

Along with the current midsize Prius hatchback and a plug- in version due by 2012, Toyota plans to unveil a larger, wagon-type Prius at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday and display an additional concept version, Mike Michels, a company spokesman, said without elaborating.

Prius had one of its best months of sales in December in a decade, according to Edmunds.com, an auto-shopping research website, which reported on highlights of the call with analysts.