2009 Hybrid Sales

[bizzybear]

Found this article and thought it was cool to see the numbers for 2009 Hybrid sales...

A review of sales data for the 2009 shows that hybrids had their third-best year since the first sales were recorded in the U.S. in 1999.

In all, automakers sold 290,231 gas-electric cars and trucks.Hybridsales09VsShare.jpg

The performance, while down 6.8 percent from 2008, was spectacular compared with sales of non-hybrids, which plunged 21.4 percent for the year.

Good, Not Great

Hybrids were helped by factors that included the launch of several new models; federal tax credits and substantial year-end incentives on some; and a short summertime rise in gasoline prices that spurred a July and August sales bump for fuel efficient models.

Hybrid sales have dropped since 2007 peak while market share has grown.

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That's not to say that green car boosters should be dancing in the streets.

"I'd think that with the new models that were introduced, hybrids' overall market share ought to be higher than it is," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's director of industry analysis.

While the year's 2.78 percent market share is the highest ever for hybrid vehicles - thanks to the arrival of six new models including the relatively hot-selling Ford Fusion hybrid, "it really should be up over 3 percent by now," said Caldwell.

"The culprit is the price difference. Hybrids are more expensive and in a recessionary year that didn't help."

Automakers with hybrids found it necessary to pile incentives onto many of their previously incentive-free hybrid models all winter to move them off the lots, she said.

Addtionally, sales of truck-based hybrids - a segment General Motors Corp. has been betting big on - weakened substantially as motorists seekign the most fuel-efficient vehicles increasingly turned to hybrid cars. Trucks and SVs made up just 18 percent of all hybrid sales while accounting for

One hybrid car that didn't gut much help from the factory was Toyota's Prius, which remains the best-selling hybrid in the market but in the absence of an aggressive incentive campaign saw annual sales fall 12.1 percent - to 139,682 from 158,884 in '08.

there's more on here... "2009 Hybrid Sales: Toyota Slows as Competition Gains; Ford Is Big Winner" Green Car Advisor

[bizzybear]

[chodrick]

I'd have never considered getting a hybrid regardless of the fuel mileage, but this car is just so cool I traded in my 2009 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon last weekend.

[bizzybear]

nice chodrick!!! Rubicon's are nice too... welcome to the forum!!

[Jenny1]

hybrid is a good technology to the automotive industry. Upcoming new all vehicle are based on the Hybrid technology.. this is really good to all.