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US Hybrid Sales Down 6% in July
4 August 2008
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| Total reported hybrid sales. Click to enlarge. |
Reported US sales of hybrids in July dropped 6% year-on-year to 26,877 units, representing a new vehicle market share of 2.4% for the month. Through July, reported 2008 sales of hybrids in the US are down 1.6% compared to the same period in 2007, representing a new vehicle market share for the first seven months of 2008 of 2.5%.
Total sales of light duty vehicles in the US dropped 13.2% in July, according to figures from Autodata. (Earlier post.) Through July, total light duty vehicle sales have declined 10.5% compared to the same period in 2007.
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| Hybrid new vehicle market share. Click to enlarge. |
Toyota. Still challenged by availability, according to Toyota, the Prius posted 14,785 units sold in July, down 8% from July 2007. Camry Hybrid sales were down 38.9% to 2,645, representing 6.3% of all Camry sales, which increased 1.5% year-on-year. The Highlander Hybrid posted 1,371 units, up 13.8% from the year before, representing 20.3% of all Highlander sales. Total Highlander sales dropped 23.7% in the month.
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| Toyota accounted for 76% of hybrids sold in July. |
The Lexus Rx 400h sold 1,439 units in July, up 3.9% from the year before, representing 20.3% of all Rx models sold. Sales of all Rx models dropped 15.6% in July.
The GS 450h sold 40 units, down 71.8% from the year before, representing 3.1% of all GX models sold. GX sales were down 42.3% in July. The high-end LS 600h sold 83 units, representing 5.7% of all LX models sold in the month.
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| Hybrids as a component of model sales. Click to enlarge. |
Honda. Sales of the Civic Hybrid reached 3,440 units in July, up 38% from the year before, and representing 11.8% of all Civic models sold. Sales of all Civic models rose 4.6% in July. The Accord Hybrid sold 3 units, down 98.8% and representing 0.01% of all Accords sold. Sales of all Accord models rose 11.4% in the month.
Ford. Combined sales of the Escape and Mariner hybrids dropped 19.8% in the month to 1,265 units, representing 10.1% of the combined total model sales. Total sales of Escape and Mariner models dropped 16% in July.
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| Hybrid component of total OEM sales. Click to enlarge. |
GM. GM posted 351 units for its two-mode hybrid Tahoe and Yukon SUVs, representing 3.2% of their sales in July. The Saturn VUE Greenline hybrid with the BAS GM Hybrid System posted 362 units, for 6.7% of VUE sales. The Saturn Aura BAS hybrid sold 29 units, for 0.4% of total sales, and the Chevy Malibu BAS hybrid sold 349 units for 2.1% of all Malibu sales.
Nissan. Nissan sold 715 units of its Altima Hybrid, a 36.8% drop compared to last July, and representing 0.8% of all Altima sales for the month, which were down 0.1% compared to the year before.
August 4, 2008 in Hybrids, Sales | Permalink | Comments (30) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Sulleny | August 07, 2008 at 09:22 AM
I would like to know if it is possible to have a car Hybrid that works with Natural Gas and electricity instead of Casoline-Electrical?
Thank You
Marcos Lama(mlama90@gmail.com)
Posted by: Marcos Lama | August 09, 2008 at 07:47 PM
Yes
Posted by: Henry Gibson | September 02, 2008 at 08:37 AM
People really need to stop and THINK before they rush out for the latest eco-fad.
Hybrid vehicles are NOT good for the environment. In fact, they are worse for it in many respects.
1. Suppose you have a gas guzzling SUV in good condition. If you trade that vehicle in for a new hybrid, the resource costs and extra POLLUTION in producing your new hybrid are GREATER than the savings in pollution between your SUV and hybrid. And if you trade in your Hummer, someone else might buy it at a low price which more than compensates for his extra gasoline costs, so it keeps polluting. So the CORRECT decision for the environment is to drive your Hummer until it dies, and then consider something more fuel efficient.
2. Now that your Hummer is dead, do you buy a hybrid or a non-hybrid? In terms of economics, the hybid is a LOSER. It will take at least five years to recover the additional cost of the hybrid in gas savings and if you drive less than average, it will take longer. Furthermore, hybrids have higher maintenance costs. The environmental cost of a Prius EXCEEDS a Hummer! A Toyota Scion is a much better eco-purchase than a Prius. Ah, but it doesn't have that "smug factor", does it?
Higher costs = more resources = worse environmental damage. Exclamation point.
3. Hybrid vehicles use relatively large amounts of nickel and rare earth metals. These metals are strip-mined, destroying the environment. These operations also pollute groundwater and use tremendous amounts of fossil fuels. China produces 95% of rare earth metals and as global demand for these metals increases, prices will increase, production will increase, and environmental damage will increase. We will be saving on oil from Saudi Arabia only to give more money to China.
These rare earth elements are also found in CFLs, catalytic converters, and rechargeable batteries. They will also dominate the next generation of computer memory (MRAM), so your coveted Apple will be killing Mother Nature.
Folks, hybrid vehicles are only the latest in enviro-boondoggles which destroy the environment. It is nothing but GREENWASH. You get to wear a green sticker on your forehead when all you did was shift YOUR pollution to SOMEONE ELSE in another country.
Congratulations, you just polluted the environment while taking credit for saving it!
Posted by: POW in the People's Republic of California | October 20, 2008 at 12:21 PM
POW:
I understand that during any conversion process to electric cars or hybrids such as the GM Volt there's likely to be little or no environmental gain, even reversal, but will the gain not come later? The Hummer you speak of will eventually end up in the scrap heap, for example. The battery technology appears to be moving away from nickel and toward lithium. Is lithium as destructive to aquire as nickel? I seem to have heard it's extractable from sea-water. Does anyone know about that?
Currently, some significant part of our electrical production comes from environmentally unfriendly coal burning. Meanwhile, with technological advancements, ostensibly more sustainable methods of creating electricity such as solar are approaching viability. If we switch to electrical cars or hybrids then automobiles will be able to take advantage of that "greener" energy production. If we stick with gasoline powered ICE's that's not possible.
We HAVE to recycle all metals whenever possible. Seems as though we could were we to put our minds to it.
Posted by: jonbo in AR | October 23, 2008 at 09:52 PM
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Apparently neither will execs of some 65 Li PHEV vehicles to launch by 2010. A123, LG and various Japanese firms are leading the move and only Honda remains confused and uncommitted to the EV revolution.
The H2 infrastructure will not be limited to transport - Sanyo, now Nippon Oil just announced production of 10k fuel cells for home H&P. While not a big fan of H2, it looks like with lowered electrolyzer costs and home based PV systems - it will become a significant player in micro-power generation.