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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.

Overall sales for January were up slightly from a year ago. Of course, January sales were well below December since automakers seek to meet annual sales goals in December, so January is like an after math by comparison. The same is true for hybrid and electric vehicles as the weather does not favor these vehicles and those trying to cash in on tax breaks (plug-in hybrids and electrics) often try to close the sale by the end of the year. Plug-ins and full electrics are up modestly from a year ago on the strength of new products, while hybrids were down slightly. Diesels showed strong growth.

Sales for full electric vehicles were up from January of last year based upon new product with the Model 3 leading the way. In fact, the Model 3, for the first time, leads the category which should continue going forward. However, sales in January were only 1,900 units (estimated), up from 1,050 in December. While that seems like a strong increase, volumes remain well below Tesla’s plans. If Tesla meets its announced production plan for the first quarter, it will be producing 2,500 a week by the end of March. Clearly, the January results are well below those plans and major progress will be necessary to meet the March goal and the June goal (5,000 a week). The Bolt crossed the 3,000 mark in December, but fell back significantly to under 1,200 units. While sales of electric vehicles generally drop in January, this drop is unusual and sales volumes in the next few months will be an important indicator of demand. The Model S and X both had modest months, in large part due to the focus of Tesla’s efforts on ramping up the Model 3. The Leaf had another modest month, but new versions are finally in showrooms so volumes should increase in coming months.

Plug-in hybrids in January were up from last January, but of course are well below December. The Volt was down significantly in January at less than half the fairly consistent level of recent months. The Prius Prime led the category with sales close to 1,500 units. January brought three new entries to the category: the Kia Niro Plug In, the Hyundai Ioniq Plug In, and the long-delayed but now available Mitsubishi Outlander Plug In. The Niro and Ioniq are based off the same platform, while the Outlander is a long-awaited crossover in the plug in category. The vehicle has been available in Europe and Asia for years, and after many delays is now available in the U.S. However, Mitsubishi’s brand positioning in the US is modest, so that may negatively affect sales of the Outlander.

The good news is that the Prius Liftback led the hybrid category for the month of January. The bad news is that it sold just over 4,000 units. If we add the Prius c and Prius v, the total increases to 5,400 units which is far below the level of the Prius in prior years. Of course, there is much more competitive product now, both in the hybrid category and in plug ins. The RAV4, Fusion, Niro, and Camry follow the Prius among the hybrid vehicles. Toyota continues to pace the category on the strength of the RAV4, Camry, and Highlander. While sales were obviously down from December, the drop in hybrid sales was in line with the drop in total sales.

In the diesel category, the Transit Van leads the category, followed by the Ram Pickup. Volumes for both of these vehicles are estimated, and volumes for the Ram are still depressed as the vehicle only returned to the market in recent months after an agreement with the EPA. FCA will continue to build the current vehicle while gradually ramping up a new version of the Ram. Both the old and new versions are expected to be available with the EcoDiesel engine. Volumes for other vehicles are rather modest and include a small number of VW and Audi products that have been certified for sale after being modified to meet emission requirements.