Hybrid Sales in US Top 205,000 in 2005
04 January 2006
Hybrid sales in the US closed out the year with strong December results of 18,238 total units sold, pushing to the total number of hybrids sold in the US in 2005 to 205,749.
Hybrids thus represented 1.2% of the total 1,477,697 light duty vehicles sold in the US in December, as well as 1.2% of the total 16,950,679 vehicles sold during the year.
Toyota again led the way in December, with the Prius pushing back up from a november dip to 9,027 units, and cresting the 100,000 mark with 107,897 cars sold for the year—52% of the total hybrid market. By contrast, in 2004, Toyota sold half as many Prius hybrids—53,991—which represented 64% of the total market.
The Highlander and Rx 400 hybrids turned in 2,198 and 2,172 units respectively.
The Honda Civic Hybrid racked up the second highest number of hybrid sales in December, with 2,528. Sales of the Accord hybrid remain down, at 720. And the doughty Insight kept along with 42 sales in December. The Insight increased its annual sales from 583 in 2004 to 666 in 2005.
Ford’s Escape hybrid made a strong comeback in December, posting 1,403 units, one of the better showings of the year. In its second month of recorded sales, the Mercury Mariner hybrid turned in 148 units.
Hybrids as % of Total Vehicles Sold | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Automaker | SEP 05 | OCT 05 | NOV 05 | DEC 05 |
Toyota | 7.3 | 8.2 | 7.1 | 6.6 |
Honda | 3.6 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
Ford | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
The percentage of hybrids sold relative to all light-duty vehicles for Toyota and Honda continues to decline slightly. Ford is maintaining its overall percentage—albeit a much lower number—of 0.6%
Hybrids as % of Total Model Sales | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Automaker and Model | SEP 05 | OCT 05 | NOV 05 | DEC 05 |
Toyota Highlander Hybrid | 28.0 | 25.7 | 24.3 | 19.4 |
Lexus Rx 400 | 25.7 | 23.8 | 21.0 | 18.4 |
Honda Civic Hybrid | 6.4 | 3.6 | 8.8 | 9.4 |
Honda Accord Hybrid | 6.9 | 4.7 | 3.6 | 2.7 |
Ford Escape Hybrid | 15.0 | 12.3 | 9.5 | 11.3 |
Mercury Mariner Hybrid | – | – | 8.0 | 5.5 |
In looking at the composition of sales for models that offer both hybrid and conventional options, the Highlander and Rx 400 hybrids are losing a bit of ground to their conventional cousins, dropping from the mid-to high 20% level in the fall to slightly below 20% in December.
The Civic hybrid has come back strongly, taking a 9.4% share of the model sales in December. The Escape hybrid came back up slightly in December to 11.3% of model sales, and despite its quantitatively low number (148) the Mercury Mariner hybrid represented 5.5% of model sales in December.
It'll be interesting to see the hybrid figures for the first quarter of 2006.
Posted by: Tripp | 04 January 2006 at 08:29 PM
interesting to see how honda is still making the insight, despite statements about 3 years ago that they were going to kill it (actually, maybe even longer back).
what i still don't get, however, is why that car is so underequipped considering its price. it needs to get CVT, climate control, and MP3 capability standard. they also need to implement the Civic hybrid system improvements into the car, and the emission rating is outrageous! the new insight can't even get into the carpool lane in california solo.
Posted by: lensovet | 04 January 2006 at 08:45 PM
Hope they keep the Insight around for balls out gas mileage. People should have that option.
Posted by: t | 08 January 2006 at 06:50 AM
Where are the number of hybrid sales in January 06?
I´m really interested in it!
Posted by: Alex | 10 February 2006 at 05:26 AM