January 2011 Dashboard: Signs of Hybrid Upswing

I'll go on the record and predict hybrid sales will make up 3.3% of the total vehicle market in 2011, 4.5% in 2012 and 5.8% in 2013.

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Where is Hyundai Sonata hybrid?

From Hyundai's press release: "Hyundai sold 4,792 cars (2011 Elantra sedan and 2011 Sonata Hybrid) with 40-mpg EPA fuel economy highway ratings, ..."

It reads as if Hyundai was selling 2011 Sonata hybrids during the month of January.

Hybrid increase: 12.1%
All vehicles increase 17.2%

Doesn't this mean that Hybrids are actually losing ground?

I guess $3 is no longer an issue to the average american. Maybe $4 will be?

Great news that Fit (Regular + Hybrid) has overtaken Prius in Japan. Market needs competition. Now Toyota will launch the Package-I Prius. They need to launch it here in US too.

I am surprised as how come the Insight sold only 1,500 units when a base model for $18,200 is available. May be everyone expects a Cruise Control and without that, no one is buying. Honda should provide this atleast as an option.

Good that Leaf is also picking up. If someone learns how to fix a generator in Leaf to charge it for the return trip, it will be nice.

Bought Prius.

Looks like Hybrids are off to a slow start despite rising gas prices. The prices are very high especially in light of 40 MPG vehicles like Fiesta, Cruze, Elantra and the upcoming Focus.

Focus is going to be the biggest launch for Ford this year.

Its sold as 5 door hatch & 5 door wagon in Europe.
5 door hatch and 4 door sedan in USA.

This year will not be a smooth sailing for Hybrids.

All stocks of Milan, Mariner, Malibu, Aura & Vue are sold out and thats why they are not listed.

Still there are 25 Hybrid models listed here. And just 1 model holds more than 50 % share. And 11 models have sales < 100 units.

I wish Insight sales go up. Seems Fit Hybrid is selling well in Japan.
Any idea as when it will go on sale in US and how much will it cost.

Even if it comes, there will be 3 Honda Hybrids in the same price range.

I believe Think City is a Full EV. Yes it should be added in the list.

May be Flexfuel's should also be included in a separate list. There are more than 9 million flex fuel vehicles in US with another 11 million in rest of the world.

@Shines:
I don't think Ford has a controlling interest in Mazda anymore. I think Ford treats its remaining shares in Mazda as marketable securities, which suggests Ford may dispose them anytime.

According to the Bloomberg article linked above:
Sales of Prius dropped 39% y/y;
while sales of Honda Fit rose 14%.

Rob In Cary, Mercury is no longer a brand. Ford dumped the brand last year. You won't see anymore Mercurys on the list.

In January 2011, Toyota's sales dropped by 27.7 percent, Honda's fell 23.9 percent, Nissan's down 23.6 percent in Japan.

Prius 2011 has been launched and still the Package-1 (Base Model) is not available. Also they increased the price of Package-2 to 23K +.

http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/trims-prices.html

I wish Insight sales go up or Honda launched the Fit Hybrid in US which gives 50 + MPG and affordably priced.

Expect Hybrid sales this year to remain flat as the 40 MPG vehicles could gain the market.

It's depressing to see sales drops for many cheap, quality hybrid models. Apparently, the people at Nissan and GM are winning the marketing battle for electric plug-ins vs. traditional hybrids--even though studies at MIT and Carnegie Mellon show that, for most areas of the US, plug-ins produce more emissions than standard hybrids because coal is the predominant power source:

http://taintedgreen.com/green-cars/toyota-prius-is-still-the-better-choi...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20028465-54.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=will-your-plug-...

"Remember, the passenger room for Ford Focus is 90.7 cu.ft., only. It is actually smaller than a Corolla (92 cu.ft.), Matrix (94) or Prius (94)."

Oops, I think Fit has 90.8 cu. ft. passenger room and 20.6 cu. ft. cargo room. How come a much larger Ford Focus has the same passenger room as a subcompact Honda Fit?

Yes, Toyota should reduce the price of Prius and also offer Package-I in USA.

Remember, only 1/2 the electricity comes from Coal, other 1/2 comes from cleaner fuels like Gas, Nuclear, Hydro, Wind, Solar, etc.

In the last 10 years,
wind energy has increased 10 fold
solar energy has increased 35 fold.

Why are these guys linking EVs & Plugins to Coal.
Oil is lot more bloody and is linked to so many Wars & Civil Wars & Recessions. May be that guy has taken money from oil companies.

Before linking Plugins to Coal, read this link

http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html

Coal's share in electricity in the 1st 10 months of 2010 is just 45 % and it keeps going down.

Similarly Oil's share is just 0.9 % and is going down even more faster.
In 1970's the Oil's share in electricity was 25 %. US got rid of Oil and now other countries like Russia, Japan, Iran are following.

1 day, we will get rid of Oil in automobiles as well.

BTW, the share of Renewables (excluding Hydro) is 4%.

I see smart EV's on dealer lots, no sales in January?

Although at ~$45K for a SMART...

If Tesla is selling 100 cars a month, why aren't they showing up on this list? How many of these are in the US?