The best source of hybrid sales:
http://www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-cle...uary-2011.html | Market Share | Units | Group |
| 2.35% | 23,263 | hybrids |
| 0.64% | 6,337 | diesels |
| 0.04% | 348 | Leaf and Volt |
I throughly agree with their view:
The Prius stands alone as the clear leader in hybrid sales—while the rest of the market divides between the modest sellers from Ford and Honda, and the “me too” set of low-sellers from General Motors and various German automakers. Ford saw decent gains with the Fusion Hybrid and Escape Hybrid compared to last month—42 percent and 53 percent hikes respectively—while Honda holds firm to its second-place position for hybrids. That’s despite modest Honda Civic Hybrid sales, as the automaker phased out the current model and prepares to bring in a redesigned version with improved lithium ion batteries.
Plotting the hybrid model sales, we find three distinct groups. The Prius alone is sold in high enough numbers, 10,000-15,000+ per month, to occasionally show up in the top 10 vehicles sold in a month. Then there is a middle group, roughly 1,000-2,000 per month, whose total sales approaches the Prius monthly sales. Finally, there are what at best might be called 'experiments' but I consider 'me too' cars sold in 500 or fewer units per month. Many times these bottom-feeding models are restricted to a few states or have to be specially ordered because they are not found on showroom floors.
Now March will be an interesting month. The last seven days has seen a $0.10-$0.20 increase in fuel prices. What I'd like to see is hybrid sales reach at least 5% with at least one more hybrid model approaching Prius monthly sales, 7-8,000+ units per month. But I don't see that happening until their are serious hybrids matching the top 10 models:
| 1 | Corolla/Matrix | 46,441 | F-Series | 73,355 |
| 2 | Camry | 45,357 | Silverado | 59,900 |
| 3 | Fusion | 37,457 | CR-V | 35,435 |
| 4 | Altima | 37,262 | Escape | 31,978 |
| 5 | Accord | 34,662 | Ram Pickup | 30,841 |
| 6 | Civic | 33,755 | Equinox | 28,281 |
| 7 | Malibu | 33,194 | RAV4 | 23,758 |
| 8 | Cruze | 32,187 | Sierra | 22,323 |
| 9 | Impala | 31,478 | Rogue | 20,850 |
| 10 | Sonata | 28,984 | Edge | 19,056 |
| Source: | Ward's AutoInfoBank | | | |
Hybrids have a long way to go, over a decade, and they remain a nitch market.
Bob Wilson
- ZVW30
