Hybrid Car Sales, November 2008

Hybrid car sales are suffering under the current economic climate.  Sales were down over 50% from last year.  The total number is somwhere in the range of hybrid car sales from 2005.

Some of that is due to last November being one of the best sales months for hybrids and some of it is due to the lowering of gas prices.  But most of it is due, I believe, to the current economic climate.  I spoke just the other day about why I believe Prius sales were down this month, but I would like to point out a few things.

Hybrid cars cost more than their counterparts to purchase.  They are long term decision, and it can take years for the payoff to become noticeable.  With their high purchase price, hybrids are being deemed a luxury right now.  A luxury that, like most cars, are being put off until the economy recovers.

There were no bright spots in the sales numbers this month.  Although the Prius outsold all of the other hybrid vehicles combined, Ford may be the happiest, since their sales were only down by 39%.

Sales numbers for the year are still ok, but it's not looking like next year will be better.  Honda is still up 3% for the year with their Civic Hybrid, and Nissan is also up 9%.   But the Nissan numbers are a little deceiving since the Altima Hybrid began sales in February of last year.

Only two other notes.  The beginning of reported sales from Chrysler was not exactly auspicious with only 35 Aspen and Durango Hybrids sold.  But that's OK since the Aspen and Durango have already been retired this coming month.  The Vue Hybrid sales (not reported) accounted for almost 10% of all Vue sales.  Perhaps that's a good indication that mild hybrids are worth the extra money to some?

Make	Model	Nov-07	Nov-08	% Change
Honda	Accord	204	0	-100%
Honda	Civic	3,238	1,043	-68%
Honda	Insight	0	0	-
Toyota	Prius	16,737	8,660	-48%
Toyota	Highlander	2,577	907	-65%
Toyota	Camry	5,118	2,174	-58%
Toyota	GS 450h	100	42	-58%
Toyota	RX 400h	1,674	624	-63%
Toyota	LS600hL	170	37	-78%
Ford	Escape/Mariner	2,224	1,361	-39%
Nissan	Altima	1,191	353	-70%
GM	Yukon/Tahoe/Escalade	0	767	-
Chrysler	Aspen/Durango	0	35	-
Total		33,233	15,968	-52%
Make	Model	Cumulative, 2007	Cumulative, 2008	% Change
Honda	Accord	3,255	197	-94%
Honda	Civic	29,352	30,261	3%
Honda	Insight	3	0	-100%
Toyota	Prius	167,009	151,027	-10%
Toyota	Highlander	19,261	18,501	-4%
Toyota	Camry	49,508	44,384	-10%
Toyota	GS 450h	1,776	627	-65%
Toyota	RX 400h	15,259	13,737	-10%
Toyota	LS600hL	808	930	15%
Ford	Escape/Mariner	22,843	18,373	-20%
Nissan	Altima	7,424	8,109	9%
GM	Yukon/Tahoe/Escalade	0	4,948	-
Chrysler	Aspen/Durango	0	35	-
Total		316,498	291,129	-8%

Related:
Hybrid Car Sales, October 2008
Hybrid Car Sales, November 2007