Hybrid Market Dashboard

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April 2012 Dashboard

It was another good month for hybrids, which saw a “take rate” or percentage of total North American sales at 3.38 percent, which follows last month’s take of 3.44 percent. Raw volume of the overall market and hybrids were down from last month, but in relatively equal percentage changes.

March 2012 Dashboard

The market demand for hybrids and plug-in cars exceeded all months prior, with total March hybrid sales at 48,206 units compared to 36,222 last month, and 4,161 plug-in vehicles sold compared to February's 1,662 sold.
The growth rate of these vehicles is far above the rate of the market as a whole, with respect to March vs. February 2012, March 2012 vs. March 2011, and YTD 2011 vs YTD 2010.
Diesels also saw an increase in sales for March of 11,642 total vehicles sold compared 9,054 in February 2012, and so it has been a solid month in all.

February 2012 Dashboard

February hybrid sales spiked at two-and-a-half-times the increase of the also rising passenger vehicle market at 66.3 percent for hybrids, compared to 25.9 percent for the whole vehicle market. The proverbial rising tide raised most boats, and an overall increase in sales of hybrid, plug-in, and clean diesel vehicles was observed, with some exceptions, naturally. Total hybrid sales of over 36,000 are at their highest level since March 2011 (35,000) and are likely to continue to rise due to increasing gas prices, improving availability, and additional models being offered. The share of total sales is 3.2 percent, which has only been exceeded by 3.3 percent in April 2008 (a time of rising fuel prices) and 3.6 percent in July 2009 (the beginning of the cash for clunkers program).

January 2012 Dashboard

January sales always drop significantly from the prior year-ending month and this time around it was no different.

Generally, December sales are very high as year-end sales are in place. This rule of thumb applying to vehicles in general is also true for hybrid, plug-in, and diesel vehicles.

While overall sales in January were at a strong rate (over 14 million at an annual rate based on seasonal adjustment factors), the actual number of sales was down 27 percent from December 2011. Hybrid sales were down a similar rate, at 30 percent and plug in sales were down 48 percent (although the low volume of these sales makes the comparison less meaningful). Diesel sales dropped less, at 22 percent, than the overall market or the hybrids or plug ins.

December 2011 Dashboard: Sales Still Climbing

Hybrid sales for December 2011 were at their highest since March, which was the last month before the Japanese earthquake/tsunami affected product availability.
Prius volumes in December were also at their highest since March – augmented in that now Toyota is including new members of the Prius family under a single category – and were also higher than all other months since August 2009.
The availability of the larger Prius v and the forthcoming Prius c will certainly lead to higher volumes.

November 2011 Dashboard: The Rebound Continues

Hybrid sales continued their rebound based on increased availability. Sales in November exceeded all months except March, where availability was strong and gas prices were much higher. The Toyota Prius led the way, with the highest result since March and this one model (Regular Prius and Prius V combined) representing 58 percent of total hybrid sales. Most hybrid models offered by Lexus and Toyota experienced strong growth over October 2011, again due to availability.
Diesel sales continue to grow, although last month volumes were only modestly above October, albeit there was strong growth vs. November 2010. Plug-in sales increased from last month, albeit at a lower level than expected. Volt sales grew, but GM's 10,000 goal for 2011 will not be met.

October 2011 Dashboard: Best Month Since March

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.

Hybrid sales as a share of the total market in October were just shy of 2 percent, their best performance since March, just before the supply shortages began and modestly below 2010 shares where supply was not an issue.

The Toyota Prius had its best month since April, which was when supply constraints began. Even after the impact of Japan’s tsunami, Prius sales have broken 100,000 units for the year and will likely be well above 125,000 for the entire year.
Hybrid sales increased by 14 percent as compared to last month, although they were still down by 17 percent from year-ago levels.
Diesel sales continued to climb as compared to last year, although a drop in Jetta sales in October reduced the rate of growth of previous months. Mercedes diesel volumes were very strong this month.

September 2011 Dashboard: Consumers Favor Trucks Over Hybrids

Hybrid sales declined from August—showing a drop of more than 20 percent compared to a year ago, while the overall market was up 10 percent compared to last September. Overall vehicle sales this month were tilted towards trucks—including crossovers—with pickups doing very well. This suggests that small business owners and other commercial interests see better times ahead and are buying these trucks to prepare for new business, and to replace their aging vehicles. Unfortunately, these segments have very little hybrid content and thus hybrid sales did not get a boost from the trend.

August 2011 Dashboard: Hybrid Sales Remain Sluggish

The hybrid market is slowly recovering from a low of 1.21% of the total market in June to 1.86% in July—to 1.98% in August. The Toyota Prius is, as usual, drives the hybrid market. As a result, it's a significant portion of this recovery, with the Prius building up from a trough of 4,300 sales in June, to 7,900 in July, and 9500 in August. Yet, It’s hard to believe that Toyota sold 18,600 Priuses in March of this year, and are unlikely to reach those levels again in 2011.