Incentives, Concern Over Rising Fuel Prices Help Hybrids Outpace Market in May
Sales of hybrid cars and trucks outperformed the market in May, giving lie to the belief, popular among mainstream industry analysts and pundits, that Americans are only interested in the gas-electric vehicles when fuel prices are stratospheric.
2009 Prius was top hybrid with best sales in 7 months.
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And while sales of both hybrids and conventional vehicles fell far short of matching year-earlier tallies, hybrid sales were off only 26.7 percent from May, 20008, compared to a 33.5 percent decline for non-hybrids.
At the same time, conventional small car sales fell short of overall market performance, indicating that shoppers had more than just fuel economy on their minds. The hybrid market may be benefiting from increased concern that fuel prices, which have been below $3 a gallon for nearly a year after approaching the $4-per-gallon mark last summer, are on the rise again and may be heading for new highs.
In all, dealers sold 25,693 hybrids last month, up from 21,735 in April but down from 35,042 in May 2008.
With the exception of Toyota's Camry hybrid, the top-selling Prius - which continues to dominate the U.S. hybrid market - and Honda's Civic hybrid, sales of individual models are low enough that it doesn't take much to cause a large jump in percent of increase or decline.
That said, Ford's new Fusion sedan hybrid scored an impressive 75 percent gain from April while sales of the Ford Escape SUV hybrid were up 62.2 percent for the same period.
Except for General Motors Corp.'s GMC Sierra hybrid pickup, which posted a 76 percent gain on the strength of just 44 sales nationally for the month, no other models topped the 50 percent mark in sales gains from April and none of the 21 hybrid models tracked by Edmunds.com rose above year-earlier sales figures to post a 12-month gain.
Toyota's Prius remained the top model with 10,091 sold in May - the highest monthly volume since October 2008. But the 20.3 percent increase was the smallest monthly gain of any hybrid model, and Prius sales were off 32.8 percent from May 2008. Most analysts expect the sales pace to pick up with then introduction this month of the redesigned 2010 Prius.
The Toyota Camry mid-size hybrid sedan was the months' second-best performer with 2,941 sold, a 33.8 percent gain for the month.
May's worst performance was logged by the Honda Civic hybrid with a 38.2 percent drop n sales from April, to a May total of 2,077.
The only other April-May drop was posted by the Saturn Vue Greenline, a mild-hybrid SUV that plunged 32.8 percent for a monthly sales total of 227.
GM hybrids continued to sell in low volume, but except for the Vue all posted gains from April, an indication that prospective buyers weren't put off by the peculation swirling all during May about the possibility of a GM bankruptcy - an event that became a certainty with the carmaker's Chapter 11 filing Monday.
Hybrid Sales
May 2009; April 2009; May 2008
Ford
Ford Escape - 1,702; 1,049; 2,139.
Mercury Mariner - 125; 85; 239.
Ford Fusion - 1,87; 1,073; NA.
Mercury Milan - 202; 92; NA.
GM
Chevrolet Malibu - 706; 547; NA.
Chevrolet Silverado - 86; 70; NA.
GMC Sierra - 44; 25; NA
Chevrolet Tahoe - 277; 237; NA.
GMC Yukon - 157; 115; NA.
Cadillac Escalade - 207; 171; NA
Saturn Aura - 35; 31; A.
SaturnVue Greenline - 227; 338; 350.
Honda
Civic - 2,077; 3,361; 4,676.
Insight - 2,780; 2,096; NA.
Nissan
Altima - 345; 222; 1,607.
Toyota
Lexus GS 450h - 43; 33; 85.
Lexus LA 600h L - 27; 19; 125.
Lexus RX400h - 393; 655; 2,155.
Toyota Camry - 2,941; 2,198; 5,999.
Toyota Highlander - 1,351; 933; 2,644.
Toyota Prius - 10,091; 8,385; 15,011.
- Posted by
- John O'Dell June 3, 2009, 5:00 AM
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- Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, General Motors, Lexus, Mercury, Nissan, Saturn, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo
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- Hybrid Sales, May Hybrid Sales
I think this is easily explained by new models being available (Prius, Fusion, Insight), plus the Memorial Day fuel bump. I think it's a bit early to be saying that people want hybrids regardless of fuel price. I think those two are stilled tied at the hip...