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Hybrid Sales in US Top 205,000 in 2005

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.

Hybrid_sales_dec05_1 Hybrid_sales_dec05_2

Hybrids as % of Total Vehicles Sold
AutomakerSEP 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 ModelSEP 05OCT 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.

Comments

Tripp

It'll be interesting to see the hybrid figures for the first quarter of 2006.

lensovet

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.

t

Hope they keep the Insight around for balls out gas mileage. People should have that option.

Alex

Where are the number of hybrid sales in January 06?
I´m really interested in it!

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