DETROIT (Reuters) - The surge in popularity for small cars and fuel-efficient hybrids has left Toyota Motor Corp facing an unusual problem: deepening shortages of popular models such as the Prius hybrid.

A limited inventory of small cars hurt Toyota, which reported a 11.5 percent drop in sales in June.

In stark contrast, Japanese rival Honda Motor Co reported a 13.8 percent sales rise on record demand for its Fit subcompact car and Civic sedan.

Toyota executives said a dwindling inventory of vehicles, such as the Prius, Yaris and Corolla, had forced the automaker to scramble to try to keep up with demand in June, a month when industry-wide auto sales dropped almost 9 percent.

Sales of Toyota's Prius, the top-selling hybrid in the market, fell 26 percent as dealers ran short of inventory and customers faced a six-month waiting list. Toyota said it would only partly be able to satisfy the backlog of demand from its dedicated Prius factory in Japan this year.

Hybrids command about a $5,000 price premium compared with equivalent vehicles without the expensive battery.

"It is very doubtful that there is going to be a lot of recovery this year to be able to satisfy consumer demand and that is very unfortunate," said Jim Lentz, Toyota's head of North American sales, referring to the Prius.

Toyota had a one-day supply of the Prius hybrid and a 2-1/2 day supply of its hybrid Camry sedan at the end of June.

Inventory of other popular Toyota cars also ran low in June. Dealer supply of Corolla sedans was down to a 15-day supply, while Yaris had a 7-day supply at the end of June, the automaker said.

Toyota said it expected inventories of Yaris and Corolla to increase in August and was working to add capacity at its hybrid battery manufacturing plant in Japan.

The current generation Prius uses nickel-metal hydride batteries made by Panasonic EV, a joint venture between the automaker and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd.

Toyota, which put the world's first hybrid car on the road in 1997, has a goal of reaching global annual sales of 1 million hybrid vehicles soon after 2010 -- more than double last year's sales tally.

Toyota's Lentz said the production constraint made it hard to forecast how large the market for the hybrid model could be in the United States, the Japanese automaker's largest market.

"We don't know what the top end on Prius is," Lentz said.

In a J.D. Power survey, 72 percent of U.S. consumers said they were interested in buying a hybrid.

Overall, the U.S. sales performance of the three major Japanese automakers were mixed in June with Nissan Motor Co posting a 7.5 percent decline.

Honda bucked the downtrend in overall U.S. light car sales, outselling Chrysler LLC for the second consecutive month in June to grab the No. 3 spot in the U.S. market.

On a combined basis, the three major Japanese automakers increased their share of the U.S. market to 34.7 percent, up from 32.9 percent from a year ago.

The market share of the three Detroit automakers -- General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler -- fell to 45.8 percent in June from 50.2 percent a year earlier.

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(UPI) – Gov. Jon Huntsman said the change will reduce the state's carbon footprint and save energy, USA Today reported.

"Although some services will shut down on Fridays, the public has shown very much a willingness to give the concept a try," the governor said.

The ruling mandates a four-day work week for 17,000 employees, but exempts employees of the state's university system, the courts, prisons and other critical services, the newspaper reported.

Jacqueline Byers, director of research at the National Association of Counties, said the four-day option is growing in popularity.

"They're not able to give raises, so this is like a bonus, to cut off one day's commute," she said.

Magistrate Kelley Arnold in Tacoma imposed sentences longer than the 60 days recommended by federal prosecutors, The Seattle Times reported. Wayne Johnson was given five months and Andy Noel, 90 days.

Three other members of the Makah tribe were sentenced to 100 to 150 hours of community service. All five must spend a year on probation, and Johnson and Noel must perform community service upon release.

Arnold said that none of the five can participate in any whale hunts until they complete probation.

"They've had their whale hunt," he said.