Incentives helped Toyota sales rise 24%

Don’t feel too bad for Toyota. According to the Detroit Free Press Toyota’s April sales jumped 24% from a year earlier as aggressive discounts and interest-free loans continue to override consumers’ worries about unintended acceleration or other recall issues.

Finishing third for the month behind General Motors and Ford, Toyota remains unfazed by a continuing series of recalls. The dominant Japanese automaker’s iconic Prius hybrid did particularly well, rising 50% from a year earlier, despite a recall earlier this year to revise software controlling the brakes.

Sales of all Toyota hybrids totaled 17,242 in April, a 41% increase from a year earlier as gas prices have risen near or above $3 a gallon in many parts of the country.