February 2006 US Hybrid Sales Up 44% from Prior Year; Prius Down 7.5%
07 March 2006
Hybrid sales in the US in February 2006 dipped 5.7% below January 2006 levels to 14,957 units, the overall drop largely caused by a decline in sales of the Prius, which has about a 50% share of the hybrids market in the US.
On a year-to-year basis, total hybrid sales in February 2006 were up 43.8% from same period the year before; Prius sales, however, declined 7.5% from 7,078 units in February 2005 to 6,547 in February 2006. Overall, hybrids very slightly increased their percentage share of the total light-duty vehicle market in February 2006 to 1.26%, up from 1.19% in February 2005.
Although Toyota’s Prius saw its lowest sales since January 2005, the Highlander Hybrid had one of its better months with 2,631 units sold, up 16% from January. The Highlander Hybrid averaged 2,565 units per month in 2005. Almost 30% (29.1%) of all Highlander models sold in February were hybrids.
The Lexus Rx 400h posted 1,803 units sold for the month—down compared to its monthly average of 2,296 in 2005, but an increase of 22% from January.
Ford’s combined sales of the Escape and Mariner hybrids climbed 49% from January, and were up 22.8% from Escape Hybrid sales in February 2005. Ford attributes the increase to the onset of a coordinated national advertising campaign around the Escape Hybrid. Following the beginning of the online element, traffic to the Escape Hybrid website increase 12,000% with 1,500 leads being generated within one week, according to the company.
February sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid cooled from their January pace, dropping back to 1,780 units from the 3,165 of the month before. February 2006 sales of the Civic Hybrid were up 31.6% from the same period in 2005.
The Honda Accord Hybrid recovered some momentum after a very slow January, increasing its sales to 783 units from 351. On a year-to-year basis, Accord Hybrid sales dropped 8.4% in February 2006 from February 2005. The Insight continued in its steady sales band with 72 units.
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| Hybrid Share of Model Sales, February 2006 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Highlander |
Lexus Rx 400h |
Honda Civic Hybrid |
Honda Accord Hybrid |
Ford Escape/ Mercury Mariner Hybrids |
| 29.1% | 21.9% | 7.2% | 3.1% | 7.2% |
Toyota, and their dealers, want an unfair price for it's Prius. To a slightly lesser degree, so does Honda.
I've turned down all of them, including Ford, because of inflated pricing.
I'll stick with my 2004 HCH until these folks get their act together.
Posted by: Lucas | 07 March 2006 at 11:14 AM
I've heard rumors that Toyota may be limiting supplies, especially of the Prius, so that they don't hit the 60000 mark before July, so as to maximize the tax credit for their hybrids. Any comment on that? If there are still waiting lists for the Prius, then I might assume this to be the case. However, their monthly total for the Prius,Highlander, and 400h was 10915, so at that rate they would go over 60000 before July.
Posted by: Markus | 07 March 2006 at 11:24 AM
Gas prices have been falling. So have sales. No surprise there.
Gas prices will go back up in two months. Look for sales to increase across the board in June.
Posted by: stomv | 07 March 2006 at 02:13 PM
Well I'm not 1 of the 1,780 new '06 Civic Hybrid owners for February, but I am one of the ones for March :) So far after about 400 miles I'm averaging 49mpg (couple 46-47mpg commutes in there)...it's slowly rising, still got some cold temps in mornings, engine still in breakin, havent got the full synthetic mobile 1 in it yet, did pump the tires up to 41psi though.
Posted by: Eric | 07 March 2006 at 02:42 PM
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/14037080.htm
"Tue, Mar. 07, 2006
...
It takes 18 to 22 weeks to acquire a Prius, up from eight weeks at Christmas."
Those sales figures are apparently not due to a lack of demand. Perhaps they have begun allocating hybrid components for the HSD Camry which launches in the spring.
Posted by: David Windsor | 07 March 2006 at 03:18 PM
I think the Prius is sales dip is half due to 3 less days in February and there is possibly tight supply on some hybrid components like the batteries. You'll see more on that as the year unfolds.
Posted by: Richard | 08 March 2006 at 04:06 AM
How about the warm weather?
January had unusually high temperatures, while February was quite harsh. January retail sales, construction, house sales and employment surprised economists by its strength.
Posted by: Joe Rotger | 08 March 2006 at 04:40 AM
If my calcs are correct, then in 10 years time, hybrids will be 48% of the market (assuming 44% annual hybrid growth, 0% overall market growth). Rash assumptions, I know :) But it does show the power of compound growth!
Posted by: JN2 | 08 March 2006 at 06:48 AM
I wonder if the rampant price gouging by Prius $dealers had much to do with it. I can say they pretty much killed the buzz for ME.
Posted by: NoPrius | 08 March 2006 at 05:17 PM
Can't see any limitations on supplies as being a factor. Toyota just playing games with people's minds.
Or maybe consumers looking for a hybrid now have alternatives and don't have to settle for something as UGLY as the Prius. Hidious jacked up beast creature that it is.
Posted by: Adrian | 09 March 2006 at 12:22 AM
Either low gas prices could have caused a drop in Prius Sales or Toyota wants to increase allocation to other countries to create worldwide awareness about hybrids.
Actually Toyota is increasing Production of Prius
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/03/toyota_auto_bod.html#more
Another good thing is the increase in sale of Escape / Mariner hybrids. These vehicles are slowly entering into taxi fleets which is mostly held by Crown Vic / Grand Marq.
They save a lot of fuel.
I dont know why people think Prius is ugly. Wagons / Hatchbacks offer lot of space compared to Sedan. After all CUV (crossovers) are shorter version of SUV and Wagons are shorter version of CUV.
Posted by: Max Reid | 09 March 2006 at 11:55 AM
Heres the problem. Most of the Honda dealers DO NOT have any product to sell..the hybrids come from Japan and its a slow boat. If production was higher and if every dealer had at least 1 in stock at all times, you would definately see huge sales numbers. Ford dealers have the Escape Hybrid in numbers and are dealing...causing sales up,up,up!
Posted by: john | 10 March 2006 at 07:35 AM
i doubt that there are really waiting lists on priuses. i just went by a toyota dealership in berkeley, ca, and there were at least 5-7 2006 prius cars standing in their garage, waiting to be bought. hell, the market had to cool off at some point people, come on.
i'm not sure how prices have "gone down" though.
Posted by: lensovet | 12 March 2006 at 01:23 PM
Toyota has plenty of Prius' on the lot, 12 in Tysons and 3 in Arlington near me. I think the Prius is an ugly car, but I would love to get 55 mpg and have room for my clients. I like the Escape, but even with the financing, I think I will stay with my car til I can buy a full plug in hybrid with a standard speed bio-diesel engine that is not connected to the drive train, but merely supplies electricity to a 150 kW electric motor, keeping it simple and light. Then I would be able to get a small windmill and generate my own energy, and buy a few gallons of bio-diesel when I drive more than 50 miles in a day, which doesn't happen too often. I can wish, can't I? Somehow I doubt a small windmill would do it, but it would be cool if it would...
Posted by: Ziv | 18 March 2006 at 07:01 AM
I bought a HCH in March and love it. When I looked, there were only two HCH's, with navi, in Magnetic Pearl -such a cool color- in the entire Northeast! I bought one of them. Where I originally put down my deposit, the dealer couldn't get my car for three months, and then couldn't even promise it by the end of the summer. The earlier poster was right... Honda has a supply problem.
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Posted by: MR HASU PATEL | 19 June 2006 at 03:56 AM
What medium of carboniferous footprint should we deign to leave on the giant rock that sustains us all. WHy a hybrid that saves considerable energy over a car of very similar design would be welcome. Looking at the stats for the Echo and the Prius bring the point home, more needs to be done regarding energy usage.
Yet let us not forget how both cars are a vast improvement over most American models.
Posted by: Aznanob Emerpus | 03 November 2007 at 08:15 PM