Go to GCC Discussions forum
Twitter headlines« Ford’s US Hybrid Sales More than Double in April | Main | Sales of Full-Size SUVs Continue to Erode in April; Cars Increasing as Percentage of Sales »
US Hybrid Sales in April Back Over 21,000; Second Highest Month Yet (updated)
2 May 2006
 |
| US hybrid sales and average price of gasoline. Click to enlarge. |
Sales of hybrids in the US climbed to a combined 21,707 units—21.5% more than in March 2006, and 3.5% higher than April 2005’s 20,974 units. The results are the second only to August 2005’s 23,307.
Total light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales in the US dropped 5.6% in April from the year earlier down to 1,420,530 from 1,504,216. Hybrids represent 1.52% of total LDV sales in April 2006, up from 1.39% of total LDV sales in April 2005.
Toyota remains the hybrid leader, with five models now on the market for a combined 14,476 units: 67% of the total. The Prius turned in its best results of the year, with 8,234 units—up 3.9% from March, but down 27% from the 11,345 units sold in April 2005. Toyota says that demand for the Prius continues to outweigh supply.
 |
 |
| Click to enlarge | |
The Highlander Hybrid turned in its best results ever, posting 3,768 units, up 26% from March. With those results, sales of the hybrid version represented 35.2% of all Highlander sales.
The Rx 400h—which has now been in showrooms for one year—sold a total of 2,247 units in April, down 9% from March and down 4.2% from April 2005. April saw the arrival of two new hybrid models into the showroom during the last week of the month—the Camry Hybrid with 86 units sold, and the LS GS 450h with 141 units sold.
Ford posted its best hybrid sales yet (earlier post), with combined sales of the Escape and Mariner hybrids shooting up to a combined 3,420 units from 1,590 units the month before—an increase of 115%. The combined sales were up 100% compared to April 2005.
| Hybrids as % of Mixed Model Sales April 2006 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Total sales | Hybrid sales | % Hybrids |
| Highlander | 10,712 | 3,768 | 35.2% |
| Rx 330/400h | 8,890 | 2,247 | 25.3% |
| Escape/Mariner | 20,341 | 3,420 | 16.8% |
| Civic | 31,259 | 3,087 | 9.9% |
| Accord | 31,608 | 614 | 1.9% |
Ford also increased the hybrid percentage of total sales of those two models into double-digit territory for the first time. The sales of the hybrid models represented 16.8% of total sales for the Escape and Mariner. Prior months had seen the percentage around 7%.
Sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid stayed over the 3,000 mark, with 3,087 sold—up 38% from March, although down 10.9% from April 2005. The Accord Hybrid came in with 614 units sold—up 5.7% from March, but down 69.6% from April 2005. The Insight broke into triple-digits with 110 units sold.
(A hat-tip to Joe Willemssen for the gas price data!)
May 2, 2006 in Hybrids, Sales | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef00d8348be02a53ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference US Hybrid Sales in April Back Over 21,000; Second Highest Month Yet (updated):
Comments
Verify your Comment
Previewing your Comment
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
is this the first time in its history that the insight has gone into the 3 digits?
Posted by: lensovet | May 03, 2006 at 12:15 AM
Lexus GS 450h, 141 units, was forgotten.
Posted by: Ken@Japan | May 03, 2006 at 02:56 AM
Honda will drop the current accord hybrid when the Camry hybrid comes out. Fuggedaboutit.
Posted by: t | May 03, 2006 at 07:40 AM
For its first couple of years on the market, the Insight regularly sold in the triple digits--almost up to 500 units per month in some months.
Posted by: Mike | May 03, 2006 at 08:20 AM
Corrected to rectify the omission. Thanks.
Posted by: Mike | May 03, 2006 at 08:49 AM
Honda will drop the current accord hybrid when the Camry hybrid comes out.
Why would they? The Accord is in a whole different speed and power class.
I don't understand why people bash that car. It's fantastic.
Posted by: Joseph Willemssen | May 03, 2006 at 11:18 AM
Am I missing something about the quotes on Ford's increase from last year? Didn't they sell 1700 hybrids? If they sold 3400 this year, doesn't that indicate a 100% increase?
Posted by: Mike | May 04, 2006 at 11:21 AM
No, I'm missing a synapse or two. You're quite right. It's 100%. Corrected. (I selected the Apr 2005 Accord Hybrid data cell by error.) Thank you.
Posted by: Mike | May 04, 2006 at 11:57 AM
"Highlander Hybrid in 2WD or 4WD-i is not designed to be driven off road."
http://www.toyota.com/highlander/specs.html
So what you're telling me is that the highlander is just another pointless non-capable suv built on a car chassis?
Ok, thank you that was all I needed to know.
The argument that "a highlander hybrid gets better mpg than model X" is as pointless as compairing a semi and a golf cart as neither can do the job of the other.
For comparison of an awd car to awd car.
subaru forester 23/28
highlander hybrid 31/27
4 cylinder 4wd highlander 21/25
v6 highlander 4wd 18/24
Hybrids suv's for everyone that "needs" one real trucks for people that actually use them.
Posted by: rj | May 05, 2006 at 10:44 AM