Sales of alternative fuel vehicles, including hybrids, electric and clean diesels, took off in April. Total green car sales rose 58.6 percent and accounted for 4.69 percent of total U.S. light vehicle deliveries.

Pure electrics and plug-in hybrids posted a 237.2 percent increase as the new Toyota Prius PHV took the top sales spot in the segment. Sales of the Chevy Volt were up 196.6 percent last month. Sales of Nissan’s Leaf fell 35.4 percent, but the deficit was made up by the BMW Active E and Mitsubishi iEV.

Hybrids reported the largest sales volume: 39,901 vehicles in 34 different models claimed 3.4 percent of the total market. Compared to April 2011, hybrid sales rose 60.9 percent.

Clean diesels from German manufacturers claimed nearly one percent of light vehicle sales in April, up 28.2 percent from last year.

While the overall numbers are impressive, the story continues to be two manufacturers: Toyota and Volkswagen. Toyota’s share of the hybrid market increased to 77.5 percent in April and to 76.5 percent for the first four months of 2012. The Toyota Prius PHV plug-in-hybrid took the top spot in the EV/Plug-in segment. Volkswagen’s share of the diesel market dropped to 70.8 percent from 80.0 percent in April 2011, thanks to strong competition from Mercedes-Benz where diesel sales jumped 142.4 percent, but VW and Audi are still the market leaders.

GM’s hybrid sales were up 679.0 percent, thanks to the mild hybrids from Buick and Chevrolet.

Despite a strong performance from the Civic, Honda’s total hybrid sales fell 59.9 percent last month. Ford’s hybrid sales dropped 58.9 percent.

While the Toyota juggernaut looks to continue its winning ways, overall near-term sales of green vehicles may begin to soften. Nationwide average gas prices are now 25 cents lower than they were at this time last year and oil is trading at prices not seen since before last Christmas.

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