Hybrid Car Sales, January 2007

Hybrid car sales were up 10.9% from January 2006 this month for a total of 17,591 hybrid units sold. Strong sales of the Toyota Prius and sharply increased sales of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner Hybrids outnumbered the poor Honda hybrid sales. Saturn (GM) is still not reporting (that I can find) sales of its Saturn Vue hybrid.

Toyota continues to dominate the hybrid marketplace, selling 81.4% of the hybrid vehicles in the past month. Honda claimed 11.5% of hybrid sales, while Ford sold 7.0%.

Toyota increased sales of its hybrid vehicles by 25.7% to 14,322 units sold. The Toyota Prius sold 8,299 units, up 8.4%, while the Toyota Highlander Hybrid was down 20.0% to 1,810 units sold. The Highlander Hybrid was still the third most popular hybrid sold in the month of January. The Toyota Camry Hybrid was the second most popular hybrid vehicle, coming in at 2,801 units sold (no comparison can be made since the Camry Hybrid wasn't being sold in January, 2006). The Lexus division sold 1,245 units of the RX 400h (down 15.7%) and 167 units of the GS 450h (again, no comparison is possible).

Honda hybrid sales are way down to 2,031 units sold, a decrease of 43.2%. The Accord hybrid sold 248 units, a decrease of 43.7% and the Honda Civic Hybrid sold 1,783 units, a decrease of 43.7%.

Despite Ford overall vehicle sales dropping 19.0%, Ford increase hybrid vehicle sales by 37.9%. Ford sold 1,238 units of its Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid. In their press release, According to Ford, the Escape and Mariner had "sharply higher retail sales in advance of a new 2008 model". Which I interpret to mean dealers are clearing out the old inventory to bring in the new models, which are being priced significantly lower than the older models, anyways.

Toyota has publicly stated their sales goal for 2007 is a 40 percent increase over 2006, worldwide. But, they also claim sales on their hybrids have slowed with only half the tax credit available to their customers in the US. So, despite their impressive 25.7% increase from last year, they may feel disappointed in their results.

Hybrid Car Sales, December 2006
Hybrid Car Sales, 2006