Hybrid Sales, August 2006

Ford and Toyota hybrid sales were both up by over 30% from last August, while Honda was down almost 40%. Overall sales of hybrid vehicles were up 12.6% from last year with a total of 26,249 units sold. That marks the greatest sales month for hybrids ever.

Despite an overall decline of 11.6% in sales for Ford, the number of hybrid units sold this month increased from last year. Toyota sales numbers were bolstered by the Prius' second best sales month ever as well as Toyota Camry Hybrid and GS 450h sales which were not available last year. Honda hybrid sales have continued to falter on the basis of the general failure of the Honda Accord Hybrid. Despite near record sales of the Honda Civic, Honda Accord Hybrid sales are still down over 78% from last year.

Honda Accord Hybrid sales fell to 499 units sold, a decrease of 78.6% from last year. Sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid decreased 17.7% as well, although last August saw record sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid. Honda Insight increased sales by 36.3% to 109 units sold entering its last month of production.

Toyota saw increases in sales of the Toyota Prius by 13.5% to 11,177 units sold. The Toyota sold 2,581 units of the Highlander Hybrid, a decrease of 11.8%. The luxury sedan Lexus RX 400h also faced a fairly steep decline of 41.9% to 1,514 units sold. The Toyota Camry and Lexus GS 450h sold 4,977 units and 192 units. That makes the Toyota Camry the second most popular hybrid being sold last month once again.

Ford sold 1,789 Escape Hybrids and Mercury Mariner Hybrid, an increase of 31.3% from last August.

At the end of September, Toyota will see all of its hybrid vehicles lose half of their federal tax breaks. As you can see from this final image, Honda and Ford have a way to go before breaking the 60,000 units sold barrier. It has been estimated Honda will break through sometime next year, while Ford may never hit the mark before the tax break expires in 2010.

Which leads into the big question for Toyota (and the others). Will Toyota begin to lose some of its hybrid market share when the others are getting better tax breaks?

See July Hybrid Sales.