It's clear that the Prius is a runaway success; Reuters reports that Toyota is considering selling a family of Prius-branded hybrids, complete with Apple-like dedicated areas in dealer showrooms, a senior executive said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, AutoblogGreen theorized that a new model could follow in the vein of the ultra-lightweight (as in less than 1,000-pound) 1/x concept car (pictured).

"You could have a series of derivatives under the Prius brand name that would allow you to market product at a much lower cost," Jim Lentz, Toyota's North American sales chief, told the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit. "There is a definite desire for us to do that."

Currently, sales of the Prius have been down 4 percent through August this year due to supply constraints, the report said. the company is on track for 175,000 units, which is just off last year's 181,000-unit pace. Toyota is shooting for hybrid sales volume of one million per year globally, so it's likely the company will need some additional models to sell simultaneously (aside from the Prius and the Camry Hybrid).

(Image credit: AutoblogGreen)