Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Is The Government's Green Car Of Choice

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Imports led the majority of the government’s green car purchases last year, with 54 percent of the nearly 1,800 green vehicles purchased by the federal government coming from Hyundai, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Honda. The federal government’s most-purchased hybrid wasn’t a Big Three product either. Instead, it was the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.

Sales of green vehicles were down for the third year in a row, while the almost-exclusively domestic fleet has grown to feature far more imports.

Bloomberg outlines the breakdown of the government’s green fleet below

The GSA purchases in fiscal 2012 included 904 Sonata hybrids, followed by 372 Fusion hybrids, with General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric model accounting for 163 purchases. The Sonata purchases represented 5.1 percent of the hybrid’s model’s U.S. sales for 2012.

The GSA purchased about 300 other hybrids from GM and Ford as well as five Toyota Prius hybrids and three of Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV electric car. The GSA also reported buying 49 Honda Civics powered by compressed natural gas that are built in Greensburg, Indiana.

The Korean-built Sonata Hybrid unseated the Ford Fusion Hybrid as the previous champion of federal fleet sales. But with a new Fusion Hybrid and the C-Max now available, 2013 could look different.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Thornmark Thornmark on Jan 11, 2013

    Looking right back at you and your fleet queen: "GE began purchasing Volts for its employees last month in what it called "the largest order in history" of cars for its employees. However, the Volt numbers reflect a slow start to the GE Volt order. GE plans to buy 12,000 Volts by 2015. In effect, GE could buy 500 Volts each month in 2013 and 2014 and meet that target, without buying any Volt fleet vehicles this year. GE did say all fleet vehicle replacements in 2012 will be made with Volts, but it seems as if that could be a minor part of the Volt story if it is successful this year. " http://www.thestreet.com/story/11482415/1/ge-asterisk-on-record-volt-sales-deserves-asterisk-update-1.html My immediate neighbor has one via GE, he apparently had no real choice. But I can understand why GE personnel would avoid the Volt if they could.

  • MRF 95 T-Bird MRF 95 T-Bird on Jan 11, 2013

    Today I saw a Sonata Hybrid today as a NYC cab. Probably as competitive as the others they have been using of late, Altima Hybrid, Prius both hatch and V as well as Ford Escape which gets a few less MPG since it is a small SUV. Wonder how it will hold up on the mean streets.

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    • MRF 95 T-Bird MRF 95 T-Bird on Jan 12, 2013

      @MrIncognito Probably because it is a box-like CUV/small SUV and the technology is a few years older than the Camry

  • Buzz Buzz on Jan 12, 2013

    Consumer Reports gave the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid a low rating and reported several issues with this car.

  • Cincyfiveo Cincyfiveo on Jan 21, 2013

    Drove all the hybrids… what sold me was that Hyundai is the only car company that guarantees its hybrid battery for LIFE… Ford nor any others would do that, have friends that have Toyota hybrid, battery stopped holding charge after 100,000 miles… $6,000 to replace…. And it’s an 2007

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