Is Prius minivan on the way?

A Prius minivan?

It could happen, according to a top executive of Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the four-door hatchback, the world’s bestselling gasoline-electric hybrid.

There are no specific plans to develop other body styles for the Prius, Tokuichi Uranishi, Toyota’s head of global marketing, said in an interview Thursday.

But it’s “something that is desirable from a marketing point of view,” he said. “I think we should have a minivan hybrid in the U.S.”

The Estima, a minivan that Toyota sells in Japan, is available as a hybrid.

Toyota has to take into consideration what the effect would be on other U.S. models in Toyota’s lineup that already come in hybrid versions or that might in the future, Uranishi said.

For example, Toyota makes a hybrid version of its bestselling Camry sedan, and there has been talk of offering a Sienna minivan hybrid.

Although the growth rate of Prius sales has slowed in recent months, the car is still ringing up strong sales in what is otherwise a weak U.S. auto market. Sales of the Prius, which gets the best gas mileage of any mass-produced vehicle in the U.S., are up almost 70% so far this year.

If Toyota were to expand its lineup of Prius offerings, Uranishi said, “that does not mean we’re going to have an independent brand,” as the automaker does with its Lexus luxury division and Scion youth-oriented models.

“It’s Toyota Prius,” Uranishi said emphatically.

Uranishi also hinted that Toyota someday might build the Prius in the U.S., where the vehicle has achieved much of its popularity. Most are made in Japan, though some are assembled in China, where consumers’ reception of the car has been tepid.

Toyota ramped up Prius production this year to meet rising demand in the U.S.

“We build vehicles where there is demand,” Uranishi said, stressing that he was expressing his “personal view, not official Toyota policy.”

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 martin.zimmerman@latimes.com