July Hybrid Sales Explode With Clunker Cash and New Prius Excitement

Toyota's Perennial Best-Seller Records 48% Sales Jump For Month; Honda Hybrids Flat

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

If Cash for Clunkers lit a fire under July's auto dales in the general market, it apparently set off a rocket booster under the hybrid market.

"It also helps that everyone is talking about fuel efficient vehicles again. They seemed to have gone off the radar for the past few months, replaced by bankruptcies, dealership closings and all the other bad news."

Prius sales rose 47.5 percent for the month and were up 29.7 percent from July, 2008, for a total of 19,193 - the best month for the marque since April, 2008.

Other strong performers included the Lexus RX450 luxury crossover hybrid, with sales up more than 2.5 times the June level (although down 4.8 percent from July '08); Ford's Escape hybrid SUV (right), up 80 percent from June and more than double its July 08 sales; Nissan's Altima hybrid, up 54.7 percent from June; the 5-month-old Ford Fusion hybrid sedan, up 25.8 percent for the month, and the Toyota Camry hybrid, up 19.9 percent.

"Ford did a lot of heavy marketing for Cash for Clunkers and it looks like it paid off for them," said Caldwell."

Several other hybrids had large percentage increases but are low-volume vehicles with monthly sales gains of 200 or less.

The biggest disappointment for the month had to have been felt in the halls of Honda Motor Co.

While Toyota's Prius rocketed, Honda's new Insight barely got off the ground.

Sales of the 2010 Honda Insight dedicated hybrid rose just 10.4 percent, to 2,295 for the month.

Worse for Honda, its Civic hybrid tanked - plunging 38.8 percent below June sales levels and down 71.8 percent from last July.

Honda has bet heavily with the Civic that hybrid buyers want something that looks like a regular sedan and with its so-called mild hybrid system that consumers aren't impressed with the kind of powerful electric drive components that the Toyota hybrids feature.

General Motors Corp. also chalked up a disappointing moth, combined sales of its seven hybrid models rising just 2.3 percent from June. Only one of GM's hybrids was in the market last July, so there's no fair year-over-year comparison for the company y as a whole.

Its best performer in July was the Saturn Vue Greenline, the General's oldest hybrid model. Sales rose 12.5 percent in July to a total of 269, but were down 25.7 percent from a year earlier.

Nationally, new car dealers sold 35,429 hybrids, the highest tally since April, 2008.

Because the market overall has shrunk, hybrids' 3.55 percent market sharer was the largest ever, topping the segment's 3.23 percent share recorded in April '08, a month when 40,198 hybrids were sold.

        Hybrid Sales
July 2009; June 2009; July 2008

Ford
Ford Escape - 2.329; 1,295;  1,011.
Mercury Mariner - 214; 110; 254.
Ford Fusion - 2,589; 2,058; NA.
Mercury Milan - 221; 186; NA .

GM
Chevrolet Malibu - 476; 489; NA.
Chevrolet Silverado -132; 84; NA.
GMC Sierra - 48; 39; NA.
Chevrolet Tahoe - 254; 253; NA.
GMC Yukon - 117; 139; NA.
Cadillac Escalade - 167; 155; NA.
Saturn Aura - 24; 56; NA.
Saturn Vue Greenline - 269; 239; 362.

Honda
Civic - 969; 1,583; 3,440.
Insight - 2,295; 2,079; NA .

Nissan
Altima - 1030; 666; 723 .

Toyota
Lexus GS 460h - 45; 27; 40.
Lexus LS 600h L - 28; 31; 83.
Lexus RX 450h - 1,369; 527; 1,439.
Toyota Camry - 2,509; 2,093; 2,645.
Toyota Highlander -1,171; 1,098; 1,371.
Toyota Prius - 19,173; 12,998; 14,785.

Posted by

John O'Dell August 4, 2009, 3:00 AM

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