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The HybridCars.com monthly sales dashboard is a collaboration of HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm focusing on automotive issues including the hybrid and electric vehicle market.

The number of hybrid vehicles sold in the United States in June continued to decline in the face of supply shortages that have hit gas-electrics particularly hard. The industry-leading Toyota Prius continued its decline due to availability, but the Hyundai Sonata hybrid picked up some of the slack and overtook the Honda Insight to become the second best-selling hybrid on the market.

It appears that June represents the low point in availability for hybrids and volumes should grow in July and beyond, as supplies increase and perhaps just as important, prices start to moderate because of the increase in supply. While gas prices may not return to their peak level of earlier this year in the near-term, the pent-up demand generated by the tsunami should be enough to result in higher sales in coming months.

Toyota has announced that it expects Prius sales in the June to September period to be at least 36,000. Given that June sales were only 4,340, sales volumes will clearly grow in the coming months and approach the high levels of earlier this year. In fact, we would expect that forecast from Toyota will be exceeded as their recovery from the March disaster has been stronger and faster than their stated expectations.

Of course, it is not just the Prius that was in short supply. Other hybrids with significant volume such as the Ford Fusion, Ford Escape, Honda CR-Z, and Honda Insight have also had significant declines since the peak in March, ranging from a decline of 30% for the Escape to over 60% for the Insight when comparing June and March sales. While the Fusion and Escape are produced in North America, they rely on key components from Japan. These vehicles will also recover in coming months as availability of vehicles and/or components improves.

The take rate for hybrids this month was 1.2%, a further decline from last month’s 1.5%

It remains too early to make broad judgments on the plug-in market, as supply is constrained as the LEAF and Volt remain in their launch phases. In fact, the Volt was out of production in June as the Detroit/Hamtramck plant (where the Volt is produced) was in changeover to prepare for new products and increased volume of the forthcoming 2012 Volt. LEAF sales continued to grow as more product from Japan was allocated to the U.S., while the Volt moved “sideways” due to availability. Volume of both of these vehicles will grow significantly in the second half of the year as availability increases (both in terms of production and markets served).

Diesel volume was down seven percent from last month, due entirely to a decline in the Jetta, which represents approximately sixty percent of the segment. Of course, the segment has grown with sales this June, growing by over 25 percent from year-ago levels.

Consumers have shunned showrooms in the last two months (across all vehicle types) for a number of reasons, including falling consumer confidence, higher gas prices, higher vehicle prices and of course lower product availability. Look for automakers to let consumers know that product availability is improving and prices are coming down, with hybrid and plug-in vehicles benefiting from the marketing effort. The effect will be somewhat gradual, as the market will not return immediately, but we do expect sales to rise as a result.