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US Sales of Hybrids Set New High; Close to 3% of New Vehicles in May
4 June 2007
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| Sales of hybrids in the US set a new high in May 2007. Click to enlarge. |
Sales of light-duty hybrid electric vehicles in the US set a new mark in May at more than 45,000 units sold, up 91% from May 2006. Those numbers do not include sales of GM hybrids, as GM does not yet break those figures out separately.
Overall, light duty vehicle sales in the US rose 5% in May 2007 compared to the prior year, according to Autodata. Sales of passenger cars increased 6.1%, while sales of light-duty trucks increased 3.9%. The combined hybrid sales from Toyota, Honda, Ford and Nissan represented 2.9% of new vehicle sales in May—the highest percentage yet.
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| Hybrids hit a new mark for new vehicle penetration. Click to enlarge. |
Toyota accounted for the bulk of the May results with the Prius selling a record high 24,009 units and the Camry Hybrid selling a record 6,853 units. (Earlier post.) Toyota’s other hybrids, however, all declined relative to last May: 3,312 Highlander Hybrids (down 12% from May 2006); 1,746 Lexus Rx 400h units (down 13% from May 2006); and 181 GS 450h units (down 38% from May 2006).
Honda’s sales of the Civic Hybrid increased 56% to 4,520 units in May, representing 11.3% of all Civic models sold. Sales of the Accord Hybrid dropped 16% to 439 units, representing 1.4% of all Accord models sold in May. Honda has decided not to offer a hybrid version of its upcoming new Accord. (Earlier post.)
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| Percentage change in sales, May 2007 from May 2006, by model. Altima Hybrid was not on the market in 2006, and the Insight is no longer in production. Click to enlarge. |
Ford’s hybrid Mariner and Escape had their second best month to date, with sales increasing 12% to 3,214 units representing 13.8% of all Mariner and Escape models sold.
Nissan turned in its best results yet for the Altima hybrid, with 821 units representing 3.4% of all Altima models sold. The Altima hybrid is on sale only in eight states.
June 4, 2007 in Hybrids, Sales | Permalink | Comments (39) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments
Great news all around!
This posting should be required reading for all middle management at all automotive companies. Hybrids are not bad business; they sell.
All the 4 cylinder hybrids are seeing increased sales; all the 6 cylinder hybrids are seeing decreased sales.
Posted by: David | Jun 4, 2007 12:35:31 PM
I wish they had posted figures just for CA. I see Priuses
(or is it Priusi?) everywhere.
Posted by: swen | Jun 4, 2007 1:53:37 PM
New York City, too. Last weekend I was walking around Tribeca in Manhattan and saw 5 shiny new priuses within a couple blocks of each other. Awesome!
Posted by: Marc | Jun 4, 2007 2:45:10 PM
They're all over the Boston metro as well. Good stuff.
Posted by: stomv | Jun 4, 2007 3:18:32 PM
The genie's out of the bottle...the electric-hybrid is here to stay. And as time goes on, they'll keep getting better and better.
Posted by: Mark R. W. Jr. | Jun 4, 2007 4:48:03 PM
I've been seeing a lot more around the Indianapolis area, too. It might be because my wife and I have a Camry Hybrid so we just notice them more, but it does seem the numbers are growing considerably. It's especially refreshing to see here in Indiana, where people apparently hate trees.
Posted by: Travis Rassat | Jun 4, 2007 4:48:30 PM
"This posting should be required reading for all middle management at all automotive companies."
Upper management. Middle management doesn't make major decisions about product direction, marketing, etc. You've got to change minds at the top.
Posted by: Nick | Jun 4, 2007 4:48:55 PM
Wow. Pretty clear... All without exception 4cyl hybrid sales increased while all without exception larger hybrid sales decreased.
Its a shame its going to be so long before the next 4cyl hybrid is released.
Posted by: hampden wireless | Jun 4, 2007 6:26:04 PM
I am one of the proud owners on a new Toyota Prius purchased on May 5 2007! I absolutely love my new hybrid! You gotta test drive the Prius if you are in the market for a new car!
Posted by: Lisa Morgan | Jun 4, 2007 6:40:19 PM
The "experts" predicted several years ago that hybrid sales would "level out" at about 2% of car sales and stay there. So much for so called experts.
Posted by: sjc | Jun 4, 2007 7:07:49 PM
They would be Prii.
Yep, as politicians line up behind CAFE because "the market" won't do it, consumers line up to buy Prii and turbodiesels. And is that a slight acceleration I see over the past few months?
Posted by: Eric H | Jun 4, 2007 8:52:38 PM
I think they should not focus on Hybrid but on CO2 .
As i have shown you can build a car as big as the Prius2 with less CO2 / KM w i t h o u t Hybrid ( Audi A2 1.2 81 G / Prius2 104 G / KM )
What counts in the end is fuel usage and not Hybrid ( where you often forget the CO2 Input in Building the Hybrid Car and the Life Cycle CO2 of the accumulator )
The same with electric cars : you need a live cycle Analysis of the hole system including the Factory where you produce the Electricity .
C. Spangenberg
N.
Posted by: C. Spangenberg | Jun 5, 2007 5:35:51 AM
Senator Dodd supports a CAFE standard of 50 mpg, achievable over the next decade. This is achievable if Americans give up their beloved and hated SUVs.
These sales figures vindicate my view, expressed when the Accord Hybrid come out, that emphasizing performance over economy is a loser in the hybrid market. If all people care about is performance, they can pay up in other ways.
Here's hoping Honda doesn't give up, though. Thus far, they've been outfoxed and out technologied by Toyota.
Posted by: tom | Jun 5, 2007 6:09:36 AM
I think they should not focus on Hybrid but on CO2 .
Perfect is the enemy of the good. Why do so many people feel so strongly compelled to attack the things that are doing the most good among all the products in the marketplace? I'll tell you why. Because it's not their pet little "silver bullet" and it frustrates them that the market is going in directions that they either don't prefer, or in multiple directions.
There's plenty of room for small and efficient conventional ICE vehicles, HEVs, BEVs, clean biodiesels, hydrogen fuel cells, transit, carsharing, ridesharig, walking, biking, location efficiency, and so on. That's the entire point of this website.
Posted by: anon | Jun 5, 2007 6:32:23 AM
The article states that GM does not post figures for it's hybrid sales. How appropriate, they may call thier cars hybrids, but they are NOT hybrids. Not yet. Idle stop does not constitue a hybrid, at least in my book.
Posted by: Bud Johns | Jun 5, 2007 6:57:56 AM
"you can build a car as big as the Prius2 with less CO2 / KM w i t h o u t Hybrid ( Audi A2 1.2 81 G / Prius2 104 G / KM )"
LOL !!!! That's such a ridiculous statement that I almost didn't bother responding. But
Let's see... the A2 is a supermini. That's smaller than a subcompact A3, and much smaller than the A4, which is about the size of a Prius - they are both mid-size cars, similar weight, similar power, 0-60 around 10-11 s, etc. if you choose the smallest 1.9 TDI engine.
All the sudden, the comparison changes a bit:
Prius 104 g/km
Audi A4 -1.9 TDI 152 g/km
http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/
Posted by: Karkus | Jun 5, 2007 8:34:12 AM
GM cars have the ICE boost as well, similar to the civic. The Aura and Vue owners are happily reporting over 30MPG. Real hybrids for real people.
Posted by: Richard | Jun 5, 2007 8:40:35 AM
The Aura and Vue owners are happily reporting over 30MPG.
Pfft.
Posted by: bob | Jun 5, 2007 9:21:21 AM
MPG makes sense to me. Maybe we will start to rate them by CO2 quantity per distance traveled, but with the refinery and world oil situation, I would be satisfied just getting the mileage up in the U.S.
Posted by: sjc | Jun 5, 2007 9:31:10 AM
30 MPG? Seriously? My God, technology has come so far!
Posted by: Bob Bastard | Jun 5, 2007 9:41:53 AM
"Perfect is the enemy of the good. Why do so many people feel so strongly compelled to attack the things that are doing the most good among all the products in the marketplace? I'll tell you why. Because it's not their pet little "silver bullet" and it frustrates them that the market is going in directions that they either don't prefer, or in multiple directions."
Well said! Consumers need choices and different approaches for different lifestyles. For those waiting for the "silver bullet" - don't sit around and wait for it, you're just making excuses. Manufacturers will continue making improvements if we show them we want them, otherwise they'll just keep building the same stuff.
For green technology to really make an impact, it needs to be introduced to the majority in a way they understand to be accepted. While MPG isn't necessary the best indicator of "greenness" it's a metric most people can relate to. Hybrid is just one way of many potential ways to improve MPG and consequentially improve CO2 emissions. It's not a silver bullet, but it's available now, it works, and it can continue to be improved upon. Baby steps.
What I would like to see is more models getting the current hybrid technology - for example, at one point Toyota talked about having a hybrid drivetrain option available on all models by 2010. I know recently, there was an article here or elsewhere about some delays with the lithium ion batteries for the next generation of their Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD). I hope that doesn't stop Toyota from introducing HSD on more models, even if it's the current version. It's still an improvement. Personally, I would love to have a Tacoma Hybrid to park next to my wife's Camry Hybrid, but I'm sure a hybrid Yaris would really be great for somebody else. Whatever it is - Toyota and their customers would benefit by just getting more choices out there.
Posted by: Travis Rassat | Jun 5, 2007 9:51:25 AM
Hi Karkus you are misinformed . The interior volume of the A2 its 390/1140 Liter and the Prius2 408/1210 . So both cars are comparable except that the Audi A2 1.2 gets without hybrid much more mpg than the Prius2 ( Audi 1.2 has 81 G / KM CO2 where a 2007 Prius2 gets only 104 G / KM )
I am talking about the Audi A2 1.2 ( ! )
So one can see you can get a better mpg/CO2-result even without hybrid . So what is more important to drive a "hybrid" car or to drive a car with a goog mpg or CO2 / KM .
N.
Posted by: C. Spangenberg | Jun 5, 2007 10:14:11 AM
So one can see you can get a better mpg/CO2-result even without hybrid .
And you can get 300MPG+ on some gas scooters. Just don't mind the criteria pollutants coming from the tailpipe.
CO2 in and of itself is a narrow goal.
Posted by: anon | Jun 5, 2007 11:01:12 AM
This Prius misinformation is just silly. I don't know where those numbers came from (maybe the smaller old 2001 Prius?). I've checked DOZENS of sites that all list the 2004-2007 Prius with an interior volume of 96.2 cubic feet = 2724 liters.
If you have any doubt that it's bigger, try fitting 3 adult mountain bikes (plus 2 adults) in an A2. In a Prius, it's not very difficult (just take off the front wheels). You can't even do that in most other midsize cars, and certainly not the supermini A2.
I'm not here to diss the A2, but just to set the record straight.
In fact, I think it's great that the A2 (and VW Polo) were produced (discontinued in 2005), and I support various low CO2 emission technologies, espically now that VW is cleaning up emissions and making cars like the Polo Bluemotion clean diesel. It actually has a slightly lower 102 g/km CO emission than the Prius (but once again this is a significantly smaller, lighter, less powerful car and lacks many of the features that come standard on most cars today).
But I don't understand why it is that some TDI supporters constantly attack hybrids and spread misinformation about hybrids. Let's work together on this! There's nothing that says they can't sell lots of hybrids and lots of clean diesels at the same time (and perhaps even diesel hybrids).
Posted by: Karkus | Jun 5, 2007 11:02:51 AM
HI Karkus the values are from their respective inormation brochures here in germany and i repeat the A2 1.2 has 390/1140 Liter and the Prius2 408/1210 so they are comparable .
As i have personal experience with both cars you can not remove the backseats in the prius2 but you can do it in the Audi A2 1.2 . So it was only possible for me to put two bycicles upright standing in the Audi and only one small bycicle horizontal in the Prius2 where they made the car dirty .
What in my eyes is important . Audi built w i t h o u t hybrid a equal ( and more flexible ) size car in the year 2000 with much better mpg . ( Audi 1.2 has 81 G / KM CO2 where a 2007 Prius2 gets only 104 G / KM ( all from the german brochures and advertising ))
So this in my eyes proves that at the moment ( ! ) Toyotas way of bulding hybrids is not a prerequisite for a good fuel usage . In fact without hybrid you can get even much better fuel usage .
I did not bought the prius2 - instead i bought the ordinary 75 PS A2 gasoline version which even though got me ( with my style of driving ) better mpgs than the prius2.
And two german DriverMagazines got also 6.6 and 6.8 L / 100 KM with the Prius2 under ordinary driving circumstances which ist not very remarkable here in Europe and is in line with my own experiences with the prius2 .
So lets see if the prius3 finaly matches a equal size nonhybridcar from the year 2000 in mpg .
N.
N.
Posted by: C. Spangenberg | Jun 5, 2007 12:09:02 PM
I did not bought the prius2 - instead i bought the ordinary 75 PS A2 gasoline version which even though got me ( with my style of driving ) better mpgs than the prius2. And two german DriverMagazines got also 6.6 and 6.8 L / 100 KM with the Prius2 under ordinary driving circumstances which ist not very remarkable here in Europe and is in line with my own experiences with the prius2 .
Way to skew the numbers once again, now that you're comparing gas to gas. How would you know what mileage you'd get with "your style of driving" with the Prius? And what authority do "two gernam DriverMagazines" have?
Take this A2, give it the same tailpipe emissions, make it have the same performance, give it the same safety standards, make it be the same size, and there is no way on God's green Earth it will get the same fuel mileage as a Prius, nor be priced the same (all aluminum is spendy). It can't even get it as-is, so you toss a diesel at it, ignoring criteria pollutants, then when you pull out the gas version, run screaming away from objective, comparable fuel economy numbers. You're trying to claim a vehicle rated at 38.6 mpg (6.1l/100km) is going to pull the same real-world numbers as one rated at 54.7 mpg (4.3l/100km).
There's a reason they don't make the A2 anymore. Quit crying over spilt milk. Honda stopped selling the Insight, too. Things happen because the market doesn't always respond the way our own little peculiar preferences may wish it would respond.
Posted by: anon | Jun 5, 2007 12:47:31 PM
OK, I see the source of confusion now. The German sites (yes, I know German) tend to list cargo volume, and so for the Prius, the cargo volume with rear seats up/down is indeed 408/1210 liters. You listed those numbers as "interior volume" (whereas the Prius interior volume is actually 2724 l). I have not found a number like that for the A2, but it might be close to the Prius if you take the seats out (a nice feature, I must admit). It's strange that it gets labeled as a supermini.
So, yes, the A2 showed you could build a car with a big interior and with great efficiency, but from what I've read, it didn't sell well enough for them to continue it (or bring it to the US). So why are Prius sales going through the roof?
There are some significant differences:
1. The Prius weighs over 900 lbs more - that's bad for fuel efficiency but good when a big SUV crashes into you. That's (unfortunately) kind of important here in the US.
2. Smog forming emissions - the Prius classifies as PZEV (better than SULEV), whereas the 2006 TDIs are so dirty they don't even allow them into the US anymore. Even the new Bluemotion/Bluetec clean diesels that are coming to the US will still be dirtier than almost all gas cars. (However, of course CO2 is a big problem for the big cars sold in the US)
3) The Prius is several seconds faster 0-100 (i.e. 0-60) than the A2.
For all these reasons (and more), I still say you can't compare the Prius to an A2.
A better comparison would be Prius to Camry or 1.9 TDI Passat/Jetta/A4. Those are cars of similar size, weight, hp, etc.
Posted by: Karkus | Jun 5, 2007 1:10:15 PM
Hi Anon there are different versions of the A2 . The one with 81 G CO2 / KM ( Priu2 104 G / KM ) has a Diesel Engine . I have bought the one with the gasoline engine , safe as the prius2 , about equal size and with my driving style better fuel usage as the prius2 and "Auto Motor Sport" and "Auto und Straßenverkehr" got about the same values as me .
I found out that the prius2 driving people drive very fuel conscious - so its not surprising they get lower values than ordinary drivers .
But the values prove you can get with a equal size nonhybridcar much better mpg than with toyotas prius2 : 81 G CO2 / KM with the Audi A2 1.2 against 104 G with the prius2 .
You cant deny that ! These are objective measured values !!!
C. Spangenberg
Posted by: C.Spangenberg | Jun 5, 2007 1:22:41 PM
Revised Tally.
47,096 units of Hybrids were sold.
1,831 units of Vue Hybrids were sold and
170 units of Aura Hybrids were sold.
http://www.hybridcars.com/market-dashboard/may07-us-sales.html
And thats 3.01 %. For the 1st time, Hybrids break past 3 % mark. This may be another record year.
Posted by: Max Reid | Jun 5, 2007 8:25:00 PM
"The Prius weighs over 900 lbs more - that's bad for fuel efficiency but good when a big SUV crashes into you."
Hi Karkus weight alone ( from a heavy battery etc. ) doesnt gives you protection .
"The A2 proved itself to be a capable all-rounder. Its body withstood the frontal crash well, the passenger compartment suffering only minor deformation. The protection it gave in the side impact was also good." http://www.euroncap.com/tests/audi_a2_2002/111.aspx and its a year 2000 car .
But thats not the point here . The point here is that at the moment you can build a equal size nonhybrid car with much better mpg ( 81 for A2 1.2 versus 104 G / Km Prius2 ) than Toyota did with the Prius2.
N.
The
Posted by: C. Spangenberg | Jun 5, 2007 8:50:39 PM
Putting it all together :
I think the future high mpg / low CO2 per KM Car is n o t the heavy Prius2 . It is a Audi A2 1.2 light weight car type with either a lightweight battery / fuel cell / or light weight hybrid componenent ( which at the moment doesnt yet exist ) or biofuel ice ( if the EROI of that fuel is good ). Aluminium may be part of the car because the energy ( Recycling included !! ) is much lower than for steel or a lightweight biological material or carbon what you use in racing bikes .
C. Spangenberg
Posted by: C. Spangenberg | Jun 5, 2007 9:32:58 PM
Mr. Spangenberg,
The A2 is not "equal size" to the Prius by any stretch of the imagination. The liter volumes you quote (A2=1140, Prius=1210) are trunk space, aka boot space, luggage space, cargo space, etc. In other words, despite being a smaller car overall, the A2's rather odd shape gives it almost as much trunk space as the Prius. This is a notable achievement, but it does NOT mean the cars are equal size. The A2 actually had MORE trunk space than Audi's A3 and most versions of its A4. Does this make the A2 larger than those cars? Hardly.
The Prius has more passenger space and can carry more payload. The A2 is also MUCH slower than Prius, which is pretty borderline itself. This is not meant to criticize the A2 -- I'm a fan of aluminum. But it's not cheap and even with high gas prices most Europeans decided the cost outweighed the benefits. A car can't save much fuel if people don't buy it.
Posted by: doggydogworld | Jun 5, 2007 9:57:45 PM
You might as well speak to the wall, Doggydog. The guy's a broken record.
Posted by: clem | Jun 5, 2007 10:42:01 PM
Gasoline versus Diesel doesn’t much matter. Toyota’s HSD power split transmission is better than any conventional mechanical transmission. Manufacturers that use HSD (Toyota and their licensees) will have the market locked up until the advent of energy storage good enough to allow pure series hybrids or all-electric vehicles.
Posted by: richard schumacher | Jun 6, 2007 6:54:48 AM
Hi doggydogworld for me a car is bigger if i get more lugagge into it ( example two bicycles upright in the A2 ) and besides the A2 is very quick on the Autobahn because of its aerodynamic .
But all of that is not the point you all do not see .
An about equal size car gets much better mpg ( 81 G CO2 / 104 ) without hybrid than the Prius2 with hybrid .
So Toyota could have got a better result without Hybrid if they had built the Prius like the Audi A2 1.2 . And if then they had put in a lightweight hybrid they could have beaten the Audi .
Why didnt they do that ?
That is the point !
C. Spangenberg
Posted by: C. Spangenberg | Jun 6, 2007 7:48:47 AM
Pull the ICE out of the A2 and put in a 50kw ac electric motor
and a 25kwh battery in that deep well under the boot floor,
then you have got a seriously decent car! This car is crying
out for conversion , also you can pick up a good low milage
4 year old car for around 8k euro now!
Posted by: andrichrose | Jun 6, 2007 8:23:18 AM
"Gasoline versus Diesel doesn’t much matter. Toyota’s HSD power split transmission is better than any conventional mechanical transmission. Manufacturers that use HSD (Toyota and their licensees) will have the market locked up until the advent of energy storage good enough to allow pure series hybrids or all-electric vehicles."
You mean like the Toyota RAV4 EV, the GM EV-1, and the Ford Ranger EV?
Posted by: Willaim Dryden | Jun 7, 2007 9:00:33 AM
That is some good news. As market penetration increases and economies of scale set in, it will be possible to expand hybrid technology to more and more vehicles. We're probably approaching the end of the early adopter phase and now they're entering the mainstream market.
It would be nice to see hybrid technology enter the SUV market. Even an increase from, say, 15 to 20 or 25 mpg on a given SUV would have a huge effect on fuel savings and CO2 emissions.
Posted by: Aaron | Jun 9, 2007 10:25:02 AM
Edit that comment: More hybrids in the SUV market, since there are already some available as is.
Posted by: Aaron | Jun 9, 2007 10:25:55 AM
