"Hybrids Outpace Dismal September Market By Scant Margin" Green Car Advisor

Hybrids Outpace Dismal September Market By Scant Margin

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

It's been pretty well established that there wasn't much of an auto market in the U.S. last month.

"Catastrophe" and "disaster" are applicable adjectives; "It sucked" is how some wags have described it.

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Sales of new GM hybrid SUVs like this Chevrolet Tahoe helped hybrid market.
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We've had Edmunds' crack number crunchers parsing the data for us, looking for any glimmer of hope that might be found in the "green" and fuel-efficiency parts of the market and, so, far, have to say that they haven't come up with much.

The first pass through Wednesday's raw sales data provides at look at how hybrids did in comparison to the market as a whole.

And depending on how you do the comparison - to the previous month or to the same month a year ago - we found a mixed message for September hybrid sales.

Hybrid Segment Outpaces Market

The market as a whole was down 26.5 percent from September 2007 and was off 22.5 percent from August '08. It was the first month since the late 1990s that sales dropped below the 1-million mark.

(Disclaimer: Our September hybrid sales data doesn't include the Mazda Tribute SUV hybrid, GM's hybrid pickups or Chrysler's hybrid SUVs yet - has to do with the way they report them as part of a general model line instead of breaking them out.)

Isolating just the hybrids that were sold last month, we found that sales were down 20 percent from August - pretty close to the decline recorded by the industry overall - but were off only 8.1 percent from a year earlier.

Credit Crunch Hurt

That's not an anomaly, it's just that hybrids weren't selling in as much volume last year as they were in August - in part because there were fewer models available, in part because fuel prices were cheaper in 2007 and people felt less driven to buy the most fuel-efficient vehicles they could find regardless of cost.

It was that cost, and the difficult financial times that have seen credit dry up almost overnight that hit hybrid sales in September.

Despite the drop in sales volume from August, though, they outperformed the market - just barely -- and actually posted a market share increase as other segments shrank more.

Hybrids accounted for 2.17 percent of passenger vehicle sales last month versus 2.1 percent in August and just 1.73 percent in September 2007.

That they didn't do as poorly as other segments was due almost entirely to a slight ramp-up in sales of General Motors Corp.'s new hybrid SUVs. Nissan helped a bit, with a 6.3 percent gain over August in sales of its Altima hybrid, but GM was up 20.2.

The gain came of the strength of sales of its Tahoe and Yukon dual-mode SUVs as well as a slight bump in sales of the Saturn Aura hybrid sedan and Vue Green line mild hybrid crossover SUV.

Big Boys Burned

Toyota, Honda and Ford remained the biggest players in the hybrid market, though, and their hybrid sales actually did worse than the market as a whole.

Toyota, whose Prius (left) remains the nation's best-selling hybrid dspite a double-digit tumble, saw overall sales of its gas-electric models - Toyota and Lexus brands- fall by 26.6 percent; Honda's hybrid sales were off 35 percent and Ford's were down 26 percent.

Analysts said that one reason was the higher cost of a hybrid compared to conventionally powered small vehicles that can deliver almost as much fuel economy at a lower sticker price.

That's critical because as lenders haul in the reins, the number of people who can qualify for new-car loans or leases declines and sales of more expensive models usually plummet.

We're still crunching data but expect to be able to bring you have a look early next week at how vehicles rated at 30 miles a gallon and up did in September's dismal market.

Meantime, here are the hybrid sales tallies prepared by Edmunds' data gurus.

Hybrid Sales By Manufacturer

Ford, 990 sold versus 1,338 in August, down 26 percent;
General Motors, 1,975 vs. 1,628, up 20.2 percent.
Honda, 2,020 vs. 3107, down 35 percent.
Nissan, 470 vs. 442, up 6.3 percent.
Toyota, 15,399 vs. 19.529, down 26.6 percent.

By Make and Model
(Sept. '08 sales; Aug. '08 sales; percentage difference):

Cadillac Escalade - 91; NA; NA
Chevrolet Malibu - 382; 388; -1.5 percent.
Chevrolet Tahoe - 636; 530; +20 percent.
Ford Escape - 889; 1155; -23 percent.
GMC Yukon - 374; 267; +40 percent.
Honda Accord (discontinued) - 0; 2; NA.
Honda Civic - 2020; 3150; -35.9 percent.
Lexus GS450h - 29; 35; -17.1percent.
Lexus LS600h L - 47; 71; -33.8 percent.
Lexus RX400h -744; 1,277; -41.7 percent.
Nissan Altima - 470; 442; +6.3 percent.
Toyota Camry -- 2,785; 3,456; -19.4 percent.
Toyota Highlander - 921; 1227; -24.9 percent.
Toyota Prius - 10,873; 13,463; -19.2 percent.