Final November Sales Snapshot: Up With Hybrids!
( Ferdinand Porsche’s 1899 Lohner-Porsche “Mixte” gas-electric hybrid with in-wheel hub motors)
Did I save the best news for last? Hybrids bucked the trend in November, posting a healthy 21% increase over the month last year. Hybrids represented 2.7% of the new vehicle market, up from their 2.2% share in November 2008. For the first 11 months of 2009, hybrids have held a 2.8% new light-duty vehicle market share. Details and charts:
Toyota sold 14,473 hybrids in November 2009, up 16.3% from November 2008. Prius sold 9,617 units, up 11% from the year before. Camry Hybrid: 1,465 units, down 33% from ’08, and representing 5.3% of all Camrys. Highlander hybrid sold 722 units, down 20%, with a share of 11.6% of all Highlanders sold.
The new hybrid Lexus HS 250 sold 1,407 units. The Rx hybrid sold 1,210 units, representing 15.3% of Rx models sold. The GS hybrid posted 37 units, down 11.9%, for 6.2% of all GS sales. The LS hybrid sold 15 units, down 60%, for 1.4% of LS sales.
The new Fusion hybrid is fueling Ford’s hybrid share, as it came in a strong second in the monthl, with 2,361 units sold, up 73.5% from the year prior. The Escape/Mariner hybrids sold 960 units, down 30% year-on-year, for 5.6% of all Escape/Mariner sales. The new Fusion/Milan hybrid sedans sold 1,401 units, representing 8.7% of all Fusion/Milan sales.
Honda moved 1,646 hybrids in November, up 57.8%. The Insight represents the bulk of that, with 1,403 units sold. The Civic Hybrid is down 77% to 243 units, for 1.8% of all Civic sales.
GM sold all of 1,020 hybrids, down 25.5% from November 2008. The two-mode Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade were off 36% to 489 units, comprising 4.7% of those vehicles. Two-mode Sierra and Silverado pickups dropped 52% to 156 units, for 0.51% of models sold. The Saturn VUE mild hybrid was down 31% to 134 units, for 9.8% of all VUEs sold.
The Malibu mild hybrid sedan was snapped up by 212 buyers, and the exiting Saturn Aura mild hybrid sold 29 units.
Nissan moved 503 Altima Hybrids in November, up 42.5% from November ’08, and representing 3.2% of Altima sales.
[Green Car Congress] Chart courtesy Green Car Congress
More by Paul Niedermeyer
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I hope people stop saying that Toyota only sells them for marketing reasons and loses money on all of them... If 105 of your cars are hybrid (and Prius in the 3rd generation already) it is not marketing anymore, it is reality. not sure if they make money on them or not... but the Prius probably fares at least as well as any other Toyota regarding profit these days.
This is why GM ought to forget about developing any more hybrids and just get on with producing quality cars at a profit - assuming they can do that. Hybrids require more development time per square inch than normal cars, and it's hard to recoup that expense. Instead, they keep talking about more hybrids, such as in the new Buick Regal. What will they sell - 100 each per month? Not worth it!